Ukraine war: Russian loses a fourth general, Kyiv claims

Russia has lost another of its generals in the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has said, along with seven members of an elite force under Vladimir Putin‘s direct command as Ukraine inflicts punishing losses on Moscow’s war machine. 

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army’s 150th motorised rifle division, died fighting around the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine’s interior ministry said late Tuesday as officials released a photo of what they claimed was his corpse on the battlefield.

It marks the fourth Russian general that Ukraine claims to have taken out and the 13th officer overall, as Putin’s invading forces suffer heavy losses at the hands of dogged Ukrainian defenders.

Seven elite SWAT fighters from the feared Dzerzhinsky Division of Russia’s national guard were also revealed to have died in the fighting. 

A mourning picture was released in Russia showing the photographs of six elite ‘maroon beret’ special forces fighters from the Vityaz Special Purpose Centre of the Dzerzhinsky Division, named after Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky. It was later revealed that a seventh had been slain. 

Meanwhile respected test pilot Captain Alexander Garnaev quit a number of positions over the ‘completely incomprehensible’ war. ‘Sooner or later society will know the final number of losses [and] will be horrified,’ he added.

A Hero of Russia and Honoured Test Pilot, he launched a scathing attack on the way Ukrainian cities have been ‘bombed and crushed with tanks’.

Blunders early on in the campaign including poor planning and logistics that saw vehicles stall due to breakdowns, run out of fuel and get bogged down in mud are thought to be behind the eye-watering officer death toll – as commanders were forced to the front to fix the problems before being picked off by Ukrainians.

Moscow has remained tight-lipped about its losses in Ukraine, having only acknowledged the death of one general and around 500 men. Ukraine puts the figure at 13,500 troops including thousands of vehicles and tanks. Western estimates are slightly lower, between 2,000 and 6,000, but that would still amount to punishing losses for Putin.

To put the figures in context, it means Russian forces suffering the same casualties in three weeks of fighting in Ukraine as all US forces killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in two decades. 

Putin is thought to have planned for a short and sharp invasion lasting only a few days, aimed at decapitating the government and installing a puppet regime. Instead he has found himself sucked into a hugely demanding war of attrition where the cost of victory – if he can still achieve it – may be too high to justify.

Among the elite SWAT troops to be killed was  Major Viktor Maksimchuk, 44, commander of a motorised rifle regiment, who died fighting near Mariupol. A father and grandfather, his funeral is due today in Krasnodar region.

Mikhail Belyakov, a 30-year-old sergeant from Penza region, died fighting in Ukraine on February 27 with his death announced Tuesday. Belyakov, a father-of-two, was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously.

Also killed was Alexey Blinkov, a graduate of the Novosibirsk Institute of National Guard Troops. The fourth SWAT fighter to be named was Maxim Pustozvonov, a native of Samara region.

The body of another Russian soldier Aslanbek Mukhtarov was reported to have been found on the battlefield two-and-a-half weeks after he died. Air force pilot Captain Alexey Belkov was killed when his plane was downed.

Two others from the same city, Bratsk, in Siberia, who had been moved 3,500 miles to fight in the war – Ilya Kubik, 18, and Pyotr Tereshonok were also confirmed to have died as their funerals were held. ‘I bow my head before the valour of our soldiers and officers,’ said the city’s mayor.

Poor planning for Putin’s ‘special military operation’ – which appears to have included keeping many commanders and soldiers in the dark about the invasion until the last minute – is thought to have contributed to the high toll.

Captured Russian soldiers have recounted how they were told before going into Ukraine that the government had already fallen or was about to fall, and they were being sent in as liberators and to expect light resistance – only to run straight into Ukrainian forces armed with Western weapons and determined to fight them off.

That has led to reports of desertions, with Russian troops walking off the battlefield, surrendering with barely a fight, or wounding themselves in order to get out of combat. Others have reportedly refused to carry out orders. 

Garnaev, speaking out against the war on Tuesday, also hinted at disquiet in the Russian ranks – saying it is ‘unbearable’ to watch the invasion unfold. ‘It is unbearable for me to see how much our men – including those I know personally – suffer,’ he said as he quit as chairman of the board of Russia’s Club of Heroes.