Ukraine has said it has killed another Russian general, adding to a growing list of Vladimir Putin’s commanders who Western officials say have died since the invasion began.
The reported blow to Russia’s armed forces comes as Putin’s two top officials overseeing Putin’s war emerged publicly after speculation as to why they had not been seen for two weeks.
Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to the head of the President’s Office, said in a video address that Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, commander of Russia’s 49th combined army, was killed in a strike near the southern city of Kherson – the first city to be seized by Russia the war was occupied.
Russian general Yakov Rezantsev has reportedly been killed in a Ukrainian strike near Kherson, Kyiv said. It is the youngest Russian commander in chief to die in the Ukraine war. Twitter
Ukrainian media reported the general was killed at the Chernobayevka air base, which Russia uses as a command post. Another lieutenant general, Andrei Mordvichev, was also reportedly killed at the same base.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry tweeted on Friday: “Yakov Retsantsev is the second Russian lieutenant general to die in the war against Ukraine.
“Georgian Abkhazia torn apart, Syria bombed out, and finally the inglorious annihilation of Ukraine. This is becoming a typical Russian generals track record,” she added.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry’s website, Rezantsev had held positions as a platoon commander and army commander and had been awarded a number of state awards, including the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment. Moscow has not commented on the alleged killing, as has been the case with most of the reported deaths of its commanders.
Russia has only confirmed the death of one general, although Kyiv and Western officials believe as many as seven have been killed since the war began.
A source inside Ukraine’s presidential administration told The Wall Street Journal that Kyiv has a military intelligence team that specializes in targeting Russian officers because their demise will give them a major public relations coup.
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov spoke in video for the first time in over two weeks amid speculation about their whereabouts.
After not being seen in public since March 11, he reappeared, albeit briefly, despite reports of health problems, when Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti published a video online showing Putin talking to his advisers speaks, with Schoigu popping up a screen in the top corner. The meeting took place on Thursday, the Russian news agency said.
The Department of Defense released a clip of him on Saturday, this time addressed to senior generals. There was nothing to clarify in the video as to when it was filmed.
Reading from a script, Shoigu talked about supplying arms to troops in Ukraine.
A soldier from Ukraine’s Armed Forces holds an FGM-148 Javelin, an American-made man-portable anti-tank missile, at a checkpoint where they take up position near Kharkiv March 23, 2022. Ukraine has said it has another general, Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, on a strike near Kherson. SERGEY BOBOK/Getty Images