Putin Losses Rise to 9 Commanders Killed Among '12,000 Russian Soldiers Killed,' Ukraine Says

Photo: ARIS MESSINIS/ / AFP / Getty Images

Nine of Vladimir Putin’s top military commanders have been killed in the invasion of Ukraine

, including two generals, and are among the 12,000 Russian soldiers that Ukraine now claims to have eliminated.

One of Vladimir Putin’s top generals was killed in fighting outside Kharkov

, the second city of Ukraine, in another big blow for the Russian president.

The caption says: LIQUIDATED

Russian Major General Vitaly Gerasimov was killed in fighting near Kharkiv on March 7. He was chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 41st Army, Central Military District. He led Russian-terrorist forces that attacked Chechnya and Syria. pic.twitter.com/mVJZ4w9MF1

—Michael MacKay (@mhmck) March 7, 2022

Vitaly Gerasimov is the second general and the ninth Russian commander killed, after a Ukrainian sniper killed Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky during the fighting for the Hostomel aerodrome, about 30 miles from the capital, Kiev.

The incident comes as advisers close to President Putin have reportedly described his “absurd” levels of “paranoia” as the war seems to turn against him.

Kremlin officials allegedly made “apocalyptic” predictions about the conflict in Ukraine, describing the invasion that started the 12 of February as an “error”.

The mood in Moscow will be made even worse by the news of the death of Major General Gerasimov, one of Putin’s top commanders.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41th Army, was killed along with other senior officers outside from the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Gerasimov was awarded a medal for “capturing” the disputed province of Crimea in 1200, and also received medals after leading troops in Syria and in the second Chechen war.

Yesterday, it was revealed that three other Russian commanders had been killed in heavy fighting.

Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov and Dmitry Safronov were killed in the failed defense of Chuhuiv, which was recaptured by Ukrainian forces over the weekend.

General Magomed Tushaev was killed when his column of Chechen special forces, including 56 tanks, was destroyed near Hostomel, northeast of the city.

Commander Konstantin Zizevsky died in separate combats in recent days.

Among the Russian casualties is also Vladimir Zhonga, who led the Sparta Battalion, a neo-Nazi military unit backed by the Kremlin.

The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks on Ukrainian troops and has been waging war in the Donbass region since hostilities broke out eight years ago.

Two other unnamed senior Russian commanders also died in the fighting.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also broadcast what it claimed was a conversation i Intercepted between two Russian FSB officers who were discussing the death and complaining that their secure communications were no longer working.

“In the call, you hear the Ukraine-based FSB officer asking his boss if can speak through the secure system Era”, said the executive director of the investigative journalism agency Bellingcat, Christo Grozev.

“The chief says Era is not working. Era is a super expensive crypto system that (Russia’s defense ministry) unveiled in 2021 with great fanfare.

“Guaranteed to work ‘under all conditions’”.

Yesterday, leaked phone calls from Ukraine revealed that many Russian soldiers they begged to go home and wanted to leave the army.

This loss of high-ranking Russian officers comes as Putin’s invasion force faces trouble logistics, fierce resistance, and low morale.

Journalist Farida Rustamova says Russian officials and parliamentarians with whom she spoke are increasingly concerned about Putin’s handling of the war.

Rustamova, who recently fled the country, previously worked for the BBC’s Russian Service, which has since been blocked. or in Russia.

A Kremlin official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the invasion as a “cluster f…”.

Someone else, whom Rustamova described as “a good acquaintance of Putin’s”, said that the Russian leader’s mood had worsened.

“Here he is in a state of offended and insulted”, they said.

“It is a paranoia that has reached the point of the absurd”.

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