Ukrainian security forces killed a Russian general near the besieged city Kharkovthe second high-ranking Russian commander to die during Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the country.
Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, died on Monday, according to a statement from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Gerasimov was the first deputy commander of the 41st Army of Russia, and his death was another serious blow to Insertstrength.
Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (pictured) was the first deputy commander of the 41st Army of Russia, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The general took part in the second Chechen war, the Russian military operation in Syria and the annexation of Crimea, winning medals from these campaigns.
Hristo Grozev, executive director of investigative reporting group Bellingcat, said on Twitter that the news of Gerasimov’s death was intercepted by Ukrainian authorities when it was passed on to representatives of the Russian army.
Sharing a photo of the conversation in Russian, Grozev wrote that the 41st Army in the region had lost contact and was therefore forced to use a local SIM card, which allowed Ukraine to intercept the call.
According to reports, Gerasimov was either the son or nephew of Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
On February 27, Valery Gerasimov was captured at a meeting with Putin – he was sitting at the end of a long table with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
The death of Vitaly Gerasimov will be a blow to the Kremlin and another sign that Putin’s invasion is not going according to plan.
His death comes after Russian media reported last week that another military leader had died: 47-year-old Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District.
Sukhovetsky died during a special operation in Ukraine, his colleague Sergey Chipilev wrote on social networks, Pravda.ru reports.
Reports say Sukhovetsky was shot dead by a sniper near Mariupol, which is under siege by Russian troops.
The death of Sukhovetsky, who also took part in the Russian military campaign in Syria, is also a strong blow to the Russian military.
The 41st Combined Arms Army of Russia is the active army of the Russian Ground Forces and is currently part of the Central Military District.
It is clear that the main parts of the 41st division were transferred to Ukraine to reinforce the Western and Southern military districts fighting in Ukraine.
It was not possible to get a comment from the Russian Defense Ministry. Reuters was unable to verify the report.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, also died in Ukraine last week.
According to the Ukrainian general, three more Russian commanders have been killed in the fighting in Ukraine in recent days. They died as Ukrainian troops fought to take Chuguev back from Russian control.
“During the hostilities, the city of Chuguev was liberated,” Lieutenant General Sergei Shaptala said on Facebook. “The invaders suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment.”
He continued: “The commander of the 61st Separate Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, and the deputy commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, were killed.”
Reports say Russian commander Konstantin Zizevsky has died in recent fighting.
Another dead in Russia’s attempt to take Kharkiv was 27-year-old Igor Vasilenko, who was killed under fire from the Ukrainian army.
The commander of the Russian reconnaissance detachment, he “did not hide behind the backs of the fighters entrusted to him, but he himself went first,” the report says.
His widow, Valeria Vasilenko, posted a photo of him with her young son, stating that her husband would “never allow me to post anything, but nothing more.”
“You have seen everything, you know everything, I ask you not to invent anything. My hero. Thanks for your life.
Pictured: A burned-out Russian APC in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, Ukraine, Monday.
Russia’s offensive in Ukraine continued, but at a much slower pace on Tuesday as frightened residents fled bombed-out cities.
In the town of Irpin, on the northwestern outskirts of Kyiv, residents ran with their young children in strollers or cradled babies in their arms while others carried pet carriers, plastic bags and suitcases.
“It’s like a disaster, the city is almost destroyed, and the area where I live, as if there were no houses that were not bombed,” said one young mother, holding a baby under a blanket, her daughter standing nearby. her side.
“Yesterday there was the heaviest bombing and the light and sound are so scary and the whole building is shaking.”
The Russian invasion, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II, has resulted in 1.7 million refugees, a slew of sanctions on Moscow and fears of a wider conflict as the West provides military aid to Ukraine.
Russia is calling its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that it says is not meant to occupy territory, but to destroy the military capabilities of its southern neighbor and capture what it sees as dangerous nationalists.
Despite this, countless civilian targets were bombed, killing hundreds of people, including children.
Pictured: Members of the Armed Territorial Defense stand guard over a central square in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 7, 2022.
Kyiv rejected Moscow’s proposal on possible humanitarian corridors to Russia and Belarus.
However, Moscow has since offered on Tuesday to give residents of Sumy and Mariupol the choice to move elsewhere in Ukraine, setting a deadline for Kyiv’s consent in the early hours, Russian news agencies reported.
After a third attempt to soften the bloodshed in the talks in Belarus, the negotiators warned not to expect a final outcome from the next round. It is expected that on Thursday a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine will take place in Turkey.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would stop operations if Ukraine ceases hostilities, amends its constitution to declare neutrality, and recognizes Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the independence of regions held by Russia-backed separatists.
The requirements are considered as unacceptable in Ukraine.