The Kremlin state press identified him as Roman Kutuzov, although it did not specify when or where he died. Thus, he joins the long list of high-ranking soldiers killed on Ukrainian soil
Roman Kutuzov
A Russian general was killed in eastern Ukraine, where intense fighting is taking place between the invading troops and the Ukrainians, according to what the Russian state press reported this Sunday. This death adds to the series of high-ranking military casualties suffered by Moscow in these more than three months of war.
The report, published on the Telegram messaging application by the reporter from state television Alexander Sladkov, did not specify when and where Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed.
The Russian Defense Ministry, however, did not comment until moment.
Russian military vehicles destroyed in the town of Rubizhne in Lugansk (REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Russian forces have intensified attacks to capture Severodonetsk, a key city in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region that Moscow is targeting after failing to take the capital, kyiv, early in the war.
Russia already classifies military deaths as state secrets even in peacetime and has not updated its official casualty figures in Ukraine since March 25, when it said 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of its military campaign on March 24. February.
Vladimir Putin’s regime claims it is conducting a “special military operation” aimed at demilitarizing Ukraine and ridding it of nationalists who threaten the Russian-speaking population. Ukraine and Western countries reject Russia’s claims as a pretext to invade.
Russian troops concentrate their attacks on eastern Ukraine (REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Despite the destruction caused in their wake, the Kremlin troops have had to back down in their advance on Ukraine.They are now concentrated in the eastern Donbas region and the strategic city of Severodonetsk, close to the pro-Russian areas.
Since February 24, the Russians have advanced in the east and in the south, especially along the Black Sea and Sea of Azov coastlines, and already control a strategic coastal corridor connecting southwestern Russia with Crimea.
The British Ministry of Defense, meanwhile, said last Monday that Russia appeared to have suffered significant losses among junior and mid-ranking officers in Ukraine.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine reported last week about 30,000 Russian soldiers killed since the beginning of the invasion. The Army General Staff indicated that by the end of May, 1,322 battle tanks, 623 artillery systems and 201 self-propelled and armored multiple rocket launchers had been destroyed.
Furthermore, it has indicated that 206 planes, 170 helicopters, 93 anti-aircraft defense systems, 2,226 vehicles and fuel tanks, thirteen boats and 503 drones have also been destroyed, while 115 cruise missiles have been shot down.
Vladimir Putin threatened to attack new targets if Ukraine receives long-range missiles (Russian Pool/Reuters TV via REUTERS)
Ukrainian authorities also indicated that the Russian Army suffered “significant losses” in the city of Popasna, in southeastern Ukraine. These losses reached at least 50% of the Russian troops fighting in that city in the Lugansk region.
The Russian troops, adds the report released by the Ukrainian Army, have low morale due to the constant postponement of their rotation, which has caused many Russian soldiers to refuse to participate in hostilities.
As fighting continues, Putin continues to threaten new attacks. The Russian president said this Sunday that the Russian Armed Forces will attack new targets if the West supplies Ukraine with long-range missiles.
“If they supply them, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our weapons, which we do not lack, to attack those targets that we have not hit so far,” he said in an interview with the First Channel of Russian public television.
Putin made this warning after the White House officially announced a new $700 million military aid package to Ukraine, which includes multiple HIMARS missile launchers with a range of up to 70 kilometers.
< p class=”paragraph”>With information from Reuters, EFE and Europa Press