Another Russian general killed in Ukraine, says Kyiv

Rory Sullivan
·2 min read
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A Russian soldier stands guard in the Moscow-controlled city of Kherson, south Ukraine on 20 May, 2022 (AP)
A Russian soldier stands guard in the Moscow-controlled city of Kherson, south Ukraine on 20 May, 2022 (AP)

Another Russian general has been killed in Ukraine, Kyiv has claimed as the battle for the eastern Donbas region rumbles on.

Major General Roman Kutuzov died in Mykolaivka village, which is located to the south of the fiercely-contested city of Sievierodonetsk, the Ukrainian defence ministry said.

This part of Luhansk province, which, along with Donetsk, forms the Donbas, has been the epicentre of the war in recent weeks.

Russian troops have made territorial gains in the area, but have been set back by “localised but successful counterattacks” from the Ukrainian army, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.

Kutuzov is believed to have been killed while leading an assault to the south of Sievierodonetsk.

News of his death was spread by the Russian state television reporter Alexander Sladkov.

"The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels," Mr Sladkov wrote on Telegram.

"On the other hand, Roman was the same commander as everyone else, albeit a higher rank,” he added.

The senior Russian officer commanded the Donetsk People’s Republic 1st Army Corps, according to Dmitry Ivanov, a Ukrainian naval infantry officer.

Kyiv claims that at least 12 of the Kremlin’s generals have been killed in the war so far. However, Russian state media has only reported the deaths of three, including Andrei Sukhovetsky, the commanding general of the Russian 7th Airborne Division, who was killed in March.

Moscow is notoriously secretive about its military deaths, with its latest official casualty figures from Ukraine released on 25 March, one month into the conflict. The number of fatalities on the Russian side was put at 1,351.

Western military intelligence estimates that the true Russian death toll is much higher. The British ministry of defence, for example, said roughly 15,000 of the Kremlin’s soldiers had died as of late May.

Early last month, a New York Times report, which cited senior American officials, said the US was sharing military intelligence with Ukraine, which its forces were using to target and kill Russian generals.