7th Russian general killed in Ukraine

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry today March 26th announced the death of the seventh Russian general to be killed during the country’s incursion of its neighbour.

Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, commander of Russia’s 49th combined army, is believed to be the highest ranking officer killed so far. According to Ukrainian media Rezantsev died in a strike on the Chornobaivka airbase near Kherson, which is being used by Russia as a command post.

Ukraine’s military have attacked the facility several times, with Rezantsev the second general to be killed at the base. The last Lt General to be killed, Andrei Mordvichev, apparently died at the same base.

Kherson is the first city to have been occupied by Russian forces and although there is no formal resistance it is understood that daily demonstrations against the occupation take place.

Ordinarily such high ranking officials stay well clear of the frontline, however it is thought that he was in the base to deal with the low morale amongst Russian troops. Conversations intercepted by Ukrainian military, the Russians are thought to be relying on open communication systems, suggest that soldiers were told the war would be over within hours.

Ukrainian resistance has been much stronger and better organised than expected by Russian leaders, which along with poor equipment and a high death toll are thought to be contributing to the low morale.

Sources within the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle told the Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has a military intelligence team dedicated to targeting Russia’s officer class.

Russia has said that it had lost 1,351 soldiers since the start of the invasion, however that number is disputed with sources in Ukraine and NATO putting that figure as much as ten times higher.

Generals that have been killed

1. Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian strike on the Chornobaivka airbase near the city of Kherson. He was commander of Russia’s 49th combined army
2. Andrei Mordvichev was killed by a strike on the Chornobaivka airbase near Kherson, according to Ukrainian officials. He was the commander of Russia’s 8th combined army of the southern military district.
3. Maj Gen Oleg Mityaev reportedly died somewhere near the city of Mariupol, a city in south-east Ukraine which has seen some of the heaviest fighting so far. The nationalist Azov regiment claims to have killed the commander of the Russian army’s 150th motorised rifle division.
4. Maj Gen Andrei Kolesnikov, of the 29th combined army, was killed in fighting on 11 March, according to official Ukrainian sources.
5. Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of Russia’s 41st combined army, was killed on 7 March outside the eastern city of Kharkiv, according to Ukraine’s defence ministry. Gerasimov was involved in the second Chechen war, the Russian military operation in Syria, and in the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. He was apparently killed by a sniper.
6. Maj Gen Andrey Sukhovetsky, a deputy commander at the same unit as Gerasimov, was reportedly killed by a sniper on 3 March.
7. Like Gerasimov, Sukhovetsky was part of Russia’s military operations in Crimea and in Syria. Unlike the other generals, Sukhovetsky’s death was reported in the Russian media and Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed in a speech that a general had died in Ukraine.

Today March 26^th Russia said that they had achieved their initial goal and would now concentrate on liberating the Donbas region, this as another Russian general is killed in Ukraine.

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