Ukraine: Fourth Russian general killed
Next setback for Moscow: Another Russian major general is said to have been killed in fighting in Mariupol. It would be the fourth top military man killed in the invasion.
The Russian army may have to accept the next loss of a high-ranking military officer in Ukraine. Another commander of the Russian army is said to have died in an attack on the city of Mariupol.
According to the AP news agency, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Anton Gerashchenko, wrote on Telegram that Major General Oleg Mityaev was dead. According to the information, the man had already fought in Syria. Gerashchenko also released a photo purporting to show the officer.
In his most recent video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also spoke of a Russian military general who was killed. Russia has not yet confirmed Mityaev’s death. Ukraine also did not release any further information on the circumstances of his death.
If the reports are confirmed, he would be the fourth Russian general to die in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in a week.
Mariupol heavily contested
Mariupol on the Azov Sea has been besieged by units of the Russian army and pro-Russian separatists for days. The city is about 55 kilometers from the Russian border and 85 kilometers from the separatist stronghold of Donetsk.
It is the largest city between Russia’s annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist areas still in the hands of the Ukrainian government. The capture of the city, which once had a population of 450,000, would be a turning point in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it would establish a land connection between the two territories and cut Ukraine off from the Sea of Azov.
