Putin’s losses mount with NINE commanders among ‘12,000 killed’ as Kremlin official calls invasion a ‘clusterf***’
NINE of Vladimir Putin’s military commanders have now been killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
They are among the 12,000 Russian troops Ukraine now claims it has killed, as one Kremlin official has reportedly described the campaign to subdue its neighbour as a “clusterf***”.
The latest senior commander to die is Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, who was killed in fighting outside Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.
Gerasimov was awarded a medal for “capturing” the disputed province of Crimea in 2014, and also received medals after leading troops in Syria and in the second Chechen war.
Three other top commanders have were killed in recent fighting in Ukraine.
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 at in the south of Ukraine.
Their deaths come after those of other senior Russian commanders, including two other generals.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper during the fighting for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv.
And General Magomed Tushaev died when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.