A high-ranking Russian military officer has been confirmed to have died in Ukraine in the ongoing fighting in the country, according to Associated Press.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of Russia’s 7th Airborne Division, was killed in Ukraine earlier this week. The circumstances of his death were not immediately known.
Sukhovetsky was a veteran of the Russian military engagement in Syria where the country backs long-time Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Earlier this week, the Russian government for the first time gave a number for their casualties, saying 498 personnel had died and 1,597 had been injured. However, Ukraine’s government and intelligence officials in the West have said the actual death toll among the invading Russian forces is likely much higher than the numbers announced.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this week that up to 6,000 Russian personnel had died in the fighting.
A Western intelligence official supported Zelensky’s estimate. The official gave The Globe and Mail newspaper the number of 5,800 Russian casualties as of Tuesday (1 March), which the paper reported was backed by NATO analysis.
Despite reports of a slower-than-expected advance into the country, the Russian forces continue to incur damage in Ukraine. On Friday, the Russians seized control of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, which generates around a quarter of all of Ukraine’s electricity. Earlier, the plant had been hit by Russian shelling that had caused a fire, sparking fears of a possible radiation leak.
(With AP Inputs)
