A further Russian general has been killed in Ukraine in another devastating blow to Vladimir Putin’s savage invasion of Ukraine.
Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army became the latest high profile casualty of the war today, Ukraine’s government announced.
There are believed to be 20 Russian generals taking part in the faltering invasion, which has also seen the loss of 173 tanks, 12 aircraft and 345 troop carriers.
Western officials said the multiple general casualties suggest they are having to move to the front because Russia’s troops are either unable to make their own decisions or are fearful of moving forward.
Maj Gen Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army became the latest high profile casualty of the war today in another blow to the Kremlin, Ukraine’s government announced
Kolesnikov’s death comes four days after the killing of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, the first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army.
The general took part in the second Chechen war, the Russian military operation in Syria, and the annexation of Crimea, winning medals from those campaigns.
According to reports, Gerasimov was the son of Valery Gerasimov – the Chief of General Staff of Russia’s armed forces.
And last week, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, was killed.
Sukhovetsky died during a special operation in Ukraine, his comrade-in-arms Sergey Chipilev wrote on social media.
He was shot and killed by a sniper near Mariupol, which has been under a brutal siege by Russian forces for days.
Experts have said they are baffled by the ineptitude of the tactics employed by Russia’s armies after drone footage yesterday showed a column of tanks getting picked off one-by-one in an ambush by Ukraine’s forces.
Analysts have said Russian tank commanders allowed the Ukrainians to gun down their unit by driving down the middle of a main road leading into Kyiv – and straight into a death trap. Putin’s forces have now lost more tanks than are operational in entire German army.
Ukraine’s masterful ambush in Brovary piled on the misery of Moscow’s invading forces, which has suffered more losses than expected and are now facing freezing temperatures in the coming days. Morale is said to be low.
While reports said Russia’s 6th tank regiment escaped with relatively minimal casualties, Russian commander Colonel Andrei Zakharov was reportedly killed, and his unit forced into a retreat. The smouldering wrecks of Russian tanks lay on streets after the fighting.
Defence experts have been left stunned by Russia’s military tactics.
Franz-Stefan Gady – an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies – said the ‘fight shows the danger of not securing urban terrain with adequate infantry plus recon. assets when main elements of a force pass through urban terrain ideally suitable for ambushes.’
Rob Lee, a Senior Fellow and military expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, commented on the ambush, saying the Russian armoured force displayed ‘very poor tactics’.
The Russian column was ‘on an obvious avenue of approach, and they still decided to bunch up like this, leaving them more vulnerable to indirect fire,’ he wrote on Twitter, while sharing drone footage of the strikes.
Of the Russian military activities in Ukraine, a former British army commander told The Daily Telegraph today: ‘This is not the Russian army we trained to fight’.
It comes as Russia continued their barbaric assault today by blowing up a disabled care home near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said, just 48 hours after shelling women as they gave birth in a maternity hospital
Maj Gen Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army became the latest high profile casualty of the war today in another blow to the Kremlin, Ukraine’s government announced
Kolesnikov’s death comes four days after the killing of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, the first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st army.
The general took part in the second Chechen war, the Russian military operation in Syria, and the annexation of Crimea, winning medals from those campaigns.
According to reports, Gerasimov was the son of Valery Gerasimov – the Chief of General Staff of Russia’s armed forces.
And last week, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, 47, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, was killed.
Sukhovetsky died during a special operation in Ukraine, his comrade-in-arms Sergey Chipilev wrote on social media.
He was shot and killed by a sniper near Mariupol, which has been under a brutal siege by Russian forces for days.
Experts have said they are baffled by the ineptitude of the tactics employed by Russia’s armies after drone footage yesterday showed a column of tanks getting picked off one-by-one in an ambush by Ukraine’s forces.
Analysts have said Russian tank commanders allowed the Ukrainians to gun down their unit by driving down the middle of a main road leading into Kyiv – and straight into a death trap. Putin’s forces have now lost more tanks than are operational in entire German army.
Ukraine’s masterful ambush in Brovary piled on the misery of Moscow’s invading forces, which has suffered more losses than expected and are now facing freezing temperatures in the coming days. Morale is said to be low.
While reports said Russia’s 6th tank regiment escaped with relatively minimal casualties, Russian commander Colonel Andrei Zakharov was reportedly killed, and his unit forced into a retreat. The smouldering wrecks of Russian tanks lay on streets after the fighting.
Defence experts have been left stunned by Russia’s military tactics.
Franz-Stefan Gady – an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies – said the ‘fight shows the danger of not securing urban terrain with adequate infantry plus recon. assets when main elements of a force pass through urban terrain ideally suitable for ambushes.’
Rob Lee, a Senior Fellow and military expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, commented on the ambush, saying the Russian armoured force displayed ‘very poor tactics’.
The Russian column was ‘on an obvious avenue of approach, and they still decided to bunch up like this, leaving them more vulnerable to indirect fire,’ he wrote on Twitter, while sharing drone footage of the strikes.
Of the Russian military activities in Ukraine, a former British army commander told The Daily Telegraph today: ‘This is not the Russian army we trained to fight’.
It comes as Russia continued their barbaric assault today by blowing up a disabled care home near the city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said, just 48 hours after shelling women as they gave birth in a maternity hospital
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces have released an image of the so-called Ghost of Kyiv, alongside his threat: ‘Hello occupier, I’m coming for your soul!'(pictured)
The image simply shows a figure in the cockpit of an MiG-29 fighter jet, with his face hidden behind a black visor and oxygen mask.
The Ghost is fast becoming a symbol of resistance against the massive, but stalled, invasion.
The crisis in Mariupol deepened yet further last night as the death toll passed 1,500 and the deputy mayor claimed his besieged city had been ‘totally destroyed’. Pictured: The aftermath of Russian artillery shelling on a residential area in Mariupol where a rocket hit a house
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted: ‘Besieged Mariupol is now the worst humanitarian catastrophe on the planet. 1,582 dead civilians in 12 days, even buried in mass graves. Unable to defeat the Ukrainian army, Putin bombs the unarmed, blocks humanitarian aid. We need planes to stop Russian war crimes!’
With temperatures dropping to -9C (15.8F), those who did not manage to escape before Russian troops encircled the perimeter run the risk of dying from thirst, starvation and the cold.
Mariupol has been a Russian target because of its port and strategic location on the Sea of Azov.
Last night all bridges and approaches to the city, in southern Ukraine, had been surrounded or destroyed.
Mariana Vishegirskaya walks downstairs in of a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
A view shows cars and a building of a hospital destroyed by an aviation strike amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Mariupol, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on March 9
Eight trucks carrying humanitarian aid poised to enter are thought to have been stopped.
Stephen Cornish, from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, said: ‘Sieges are a medieval practice that have been outlawed by the modern rules of war for good reason.’
Sergei Orlov, Mariupol’s deputy mayor, said there was ‘no way out.’ He told Irish broadcaster RTE: ‘Russian troops do not allow us to leave our cities. We have no utilities, no electricity, no sanitary system.
‘Without water we had the awful [situation] when a child died of dehydration. So people collect snow to melt it to water.
The city is totally destroyed by artillery and… aircraft bombing.’ Mr Orlov said 50,000 children including 3,000 babies and toddlers remain in Mariupol.
He estimated that about 100,000 of its 450,000 citizens had managed to flee before the siege. He added: ‘Unfortunately, we have no opportunity to bury [the dead] in private graves. That’s why yesterday we buried 47 people in a mass grave.’
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