According to a Western authority, two more Russian commanders have been slain on the frontlines in Ukraine after a top general was shot dead by snipers.
Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky, 47, was apparently killed by a Ukrainian sniper, and the two most recent deaths since Russia’s invasion were both senior officers.
According to the Telegraph, one was a divisional commander and the other a regimental commander.
According to the Western official, this is due to commanders needing to travel ‘closer to the front’ because Russia believes progress in Ukraine has yet to be made.
‘The reason for this is that commanders believe they need to move forward in order to gain more momentum and control over operations,’ the official explained.
‘That’s an indication perhaps of some degree of frustration, some degree of lack of progress and they’re trying to impose their personality onto the battlefield and then putting themselves at personal risk.’
Mr. Sukhovetsky, who was the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of Russia’s Central Military District, died on Wednesday as Ukrainian defence forces repelled the Russian offensive.
His death, announced on social media by his colleague Sergey Chipilyov, was widely reported by several Russian and Ukrainian news outlets and a military source confirmed that he was killed ‘by a sniper’.
After days of denial, the Kremlin on Wednesday admitted that 498 of its troops have been killed and 1,600 injured in the ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, but the true figure is said to be higher than that.
Kyiv says Russia has now lost around 9,200 men in the fighting, along with hundreds of tanks, almost a thousand armored vehicles, and dozens of helicopters and jets.