Seven Russian generals have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The reasons for the extraordinarily high losses.
According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, another Russian general was killed on Friday. Lieutenant General Yakov Ryazantsev was killed in an attack near the southern town of Cherson. Ryazantsev was the commander of the 49th Army of the southern district.
Read more: Day 32 of the war in Ukraine – the live-ticker
According to a Western official, he was the seventh general to be killed in Ukraine and the second lieutenant general supposedly killed. A lieutenant general is the highest officer rank. Ukrainian media reported on Friday that Ryazantsev was killed at the Chornobaivka air base, which was used by Russia as a command post and had been repeatedly attacked by the Ukrainian military.
Another lieutenant general, Andrei Mordwichev, was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian attack on the same base. Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to be occupied by Russian forces, although there are reports of daily protests against Russian occupation. So far, Russia has only confirmed the deaths of General Andrei Sukhovetsky and the deputy head of the Northern Fleet, Captain Andrei Palij.
It is unusual for generals to be so close to the battlefield
It is speculated that the low morale of the Russian troops forced the senior officers to move closer to the front, reports the BBC. In a conversation intercepted by the Ukrainian military, a Russian soldier reportedly complained that Ryazantsev had claimed that the war would end in a few hours – just four days after the start of the war.
However, the death of Major General Magomed Tushayev of the Chechnya National Guard is controversial. However, it is unusual for these high-ranking Russian officers to be so close to the combat zone. Unexpectedly strong Ukrainian resistance, poor Russian equipment, and high death tolls among Russian troops would have contributed to low morale. Russia has so far confirmed 1,551 soldiers dead, while Ukraine says 16,000 Russian soldiers have died. The numbers cannot be independently verified.
Unencrypted communication offers a target for attacks
It is also suspected that the Russian military relies in part on open communication systems such as cell phones and analogue radios. These can be easily intercepted and thus reveal the whereabouts of high-ranking officers. A person in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has a staff that focuses exclusively on the Russian officer class.
On Friday, a Western official reported that a Russian colonel was deliberately run over by a tank and killed by his own men because of heavy casualties from his brigade. The killing of the commander of the 37th Motorized Rifle Brigade “gives a glimpse into some of the moral problems facing the Russian armed forces”, the official told the BBC.
rfi navigation account, 20 minutes 27.03.2022, 10:20| Act: 03/27/2022, 10:20 am