President Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of State confirmed Thursday that “a couple hundred Russians were killed” by U.S. forces in Syria earlier this year.

Mike Pompeo, who currently serves as CIA director, offered the confirmation in response to questions about the U.S. relationship with Russia. The February attack by U.S. special forces — acknowledged at the time by Russian and Syrian officials but until now unconfirmed by the U.S. — targeted pro-government Syrian forces who were working alongside Russian mercenaries.

“In Syria, now, a handful of weeks ago the Russian met their match,” Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “A couple hundred Russians were killed.”

A U.S. official previously said that the U.S. had communicated with Russia prior to the attack and no Russian government forces were killed.

Get our Politics Newsletter. The headlines out of Washington never seem to slow. Subscribe to The D.C. Brief to make sense of what matters most. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.

Write to Justin Worland at justin.worland@time.com.