A Fourth Russian general has now been killed, the Ukrainian authorities have said.
Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, died in the storming of Mariupol, along with seven members of an elite SWAT team, in a fresh blow to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
A picture of the corpse of the decorated military officer, a father-of-two, was released by Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
The commander of the 150th motorised rifle division is the fourth Russian General to die in the war, according to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had reported the death of another Russian general in his nightly address but did not name him.
Meanwhile, pictures were released in Russia showing the photographs of six elite “maroon beret” special forces fighters from the Vityaz Special Purpose Centre of the Dzerzhinsky Division.
The unit is named after feared founder of the Soviet Union’s secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky.
Mityaev’s death comes after that of a spy captain during a “top-secret” operation in Ukraine meaning Vladimir Putin has now lost a total of 13 commanders in the invasion.
GRU military intelligence spy Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, died in the carnage in Mariupol but details of his death have not been released.
“Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of the death of the Tyumen hero are not disclosed,” said a statement.
The GRU was behind the poisoning of defected spy Sergei Skripal with Novichok in Salisbury.
Pictures emerged of father-of-one Glushchak’s funeral in Russia, where he was buried with full military honours and a guard of honour.
On the day the military intelligence officer died he had spoken to both his wife and mother in Russia, it was revealed.
He called to congratulate them on International Women’s Day but on the same day in the evening they learned he had been killed.
His death coincides with the first expressions of anger and dismay on the number of coffins now returning to Russia, even though those officially acknowledged as having fallen in Ukraine are seen as a small fraction of the total number which best estimates suggest now run into many thousands.
Glushchak will be posthumously decorated.
A total of 12 of Putin’s military commanders have now been killed in battle since the Russian leader began the invasion of Ukraine.
Colonel Andrei Zakharov was killed in a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv followed by Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army.
Another general, Vitaly Gerasimov, was killed in fighting outside Kharkiv.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, who led a Marine brigade, died along with Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov and Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, who led air assault troops.
Safronov and Glebov were killed when Ukrainian forces have recaptured the city of Chuhuiv, while Zizevsky was killed in the south of Ukraine.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper during the fighting for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside Kyiv.
And General Magomed Tushaev died when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.
Also among the Russian dead is warlord Vladimir Zhonga who led the Sparta Battalion, a Neo-Nazi military unit that has the Kremlin’s backing.
Two other unnamed Russian senior commanders have also been killed in the fighting.
The bloody invasion has been taking a toll on Russia’s forces with Moscow reportedly asking China for help, sparking fears of World War Three.
It is believed the Russian President has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for both military equipment and support.
Kremlin officials have allegedly made “apocalyptic” predictions about the conflict in Ukraine, describing the invasion on February 24 as a “mistake”.
At the weekend Russia launched missile strikes just 12 miles from the Polish border with Ukraine leaving at least 35 people dead.
Ukraine claimed Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv military base near Lviv, injuring 134 people.
Source: The Sun
