Russia’s once-feared military faced surprisingly fierce resistance when it began its invasion of Ukraine in February.
It struggled to make the quick progress it expected to and several top generals and commanders were reported to have been killed in the fighting in the early months of the war.
The British Defence Ministry said in May that senior Russian commanders were being brought to the frontline to take personal leadership of operations amid a faltering Russian performance on the battlefield.
However, the department noted that it was not clear whether their presence helped improve the Russian operation, and in fact their deployment led to a “disproportionately high losses of Russian officers.”
The faltering invasion has continued to struggle because of the “relative lack of operational command experience of the officers promoted in place of those killed,” the ministry said.
Ukrainian Colonel Anatoly Stirlitz Stefan claimed on his Telegram channel in November that Russia has lost 160 generals and colonels in the war, per the MailOnline, although this figure is impossible to independently verify.
Although Russia has not publicly confirmed the number of total military casualties, Pentagon officials estimated in August that 70,000 to 80,000 Russians had been killed or wounded in the war.
While the early months of the war saw a slew of reports about high-profile military deaths, these appear to have reduced in the later months – around the time Ukrainian forces started to take back swathes of territory from Russia in a series of successful counter-offensives.
Some of the deaths of Russian generals and commanders were confirmed by Russia and reported by Ukrainian officials and other sources, some have been disputed.
These are the senior Russian officers reported to have been killed.
Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky was the first high-ranking loss for the Russian military after being reported to have been killed by sniper fire.
Sukhovetsky was the commanding general of Russia’s 7th Airborne Division and deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army.
Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov became the second senior Russian commander reported to be killed after Ukrainian military intelligence claimed he was shot dead in Kharkiv.
The defense ministry released intercepted audio of what it said were two Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, officers discussing the death.
However, his death was later disputed by Russia, and Russian media reported that he was alive and was awarded the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
Ukraine’s military said in a tweet that they killed Russian Maj. Gen. Andrey Kolesnikov. He is believed to be the commander of the 29th Combined Arms Army.
His death would make him the third top Russian general to be killed.
Russia reportedly lost its fourth general after Maj. Gen. Oleg Mityaev, who was killed during the Russian assault on the city of Mariupol, Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian troops were able to intercept a call by a Russian general and kill him, according to The New York Times.
The paper cited two US military officials for the information. It did not name the general or give a location.
Russian Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev was the commander of the 8th General Army of the Southern Military District of the Armed Forces and died due to “fire on the enemy,” the general staff of the Ukrainian army said on Twitter.
The general was reportedly killed when Ukrainian forces struck an airfield in Chornobayivka, near Kherson Airport, which is being used as a temporary Russian base, according to Oleksiy Arestovych, former presidential adviser, local outlet Interfax reported.
The Kremlin has not confirmed the general’s death.
Mordvichev’s death has been disputed, as The Times of London said that he was photographed with Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov after reports of his death.
Ukraine said it killed Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army commander and one of its highest-ranking military officials, The Kyiv Independent’s Illia Ponomarenko reported.
Russia has not confirmed the death, which an aide of Zelenskyy said occurred in Chornobaivka, a village in southern Ukraine.
Rezantsev had previously boasted that the invasion of Ukraine would be over in hours, The Telegraph reported.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said that Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, Commander of the 61st Separate Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed during fighting when Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region.
In the same statement announcing Safronov’s death, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said that Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, Deputy Commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault, had also been killed.
Russian news outlets reported that Glebov was killed while taking part in a special operation in Donbas and was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Guard Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, the commander of the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, was reported to have been killed during a military operation to “protect the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.”
His death was confirmed in an Instagram post by Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of the Pskov Region.
A post shared by Михаил Ведерников (@m.v_007)
Guard Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov died alongside Konstantin Zizevsky, according to the same Instagram post by Mikhail Vedernikov, the governor of the Pskov Region.
Agarkov had previously served as the 56th Air Assault Brigade chief of staff and commanded a motorized rifle regiment, according to a report in the Russian media.
Ukraine has claimed to have killed Colonel Andrei Zakharov in an ambush on a Russian armored column in a suburb of Kyiv, according to The Guardian.
Drone footage emerged of the fighting, and Ukrainian media claimed that Zakharov, the regiment’s commander, was killed.
Colonel Sergei Porokhnya, the commander of Russia’s 12th Engineer Brigade, based in Ufa, was reportedly killed in Ukraine.
Russian outlet KP-Ufa reported that the colonel was killed during a “special operation” in Ukraine, confirmed by some of his Russian colleagues on social media.
General Magomed Tushaev, a Chechen warlord, was reported to have been killed in a battle in Ukraine after a 56 tank convoy of Chechen tanks were destroyed near Hostomel, according to The Daily Mail.
However, his death was later disputed by the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
Forces from Russia’s Chechnya region have been supporting Putin in his invasion of Ukraine.
Another warlord reported killed is Vladimir Zhonga, who led the Sparta Battalion, a pro-Russian militant group operating in the Donetsk People’s Republic, which has the Kremlin’s backing.
Vladimir Zhoga was reported to be shot dead in Volnovakha, The Daily Mail said.
Colonel Sergei Sukharev, of the 331st Guards Parachute Assault Regiment from Kostroma, and his deputy Major Sergei Krylov were killed in battle in Ukraine, according to Russian state TV.
Sukharev was a leading Russian paratroop commander whose regiment fought against Ukraine outside the city Ilovaisk in Donbas in 2014, Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security (Stratcom) said in a statement, cited by The Independent.
Ukrainian journalist Illia Ponomarenko said that Sukharev was “responsible for the Ilovaisk massacre of 2014.”
Colonel Alexei Sharov was reported to have been killed by Ukrainian forces in the besieged southern city of Mariupol.
Sharov commanded the 810th Guards Separate Order of Zhukov Brigade in the Russian Marines.
His death was reported by Odesa military administration spokesman Sergey Bratchuk on Telegram post and several Ukrainian news outlets, including Ukrinform.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Pavlovich Dormidontov, commander of a rocket artillery division, was killed after an explosion struck his dugout in Ukraine, the Evening Standard reported, citing a local community report from the Tatarstan region of Russia.
The report said that three officers were killed in the attack: a division commander, a battalion commander, and an aircraft controller.
Lieutenant Colonel Igor Zharov, the chief of staff for a regiment, was killed in Ukraine, according to an obituary published in Russia, the Evening Standard said.
Local MP Igor Igoshin said that Zharov was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Colonel Denis Kurilo was “liquidated” alongside 1,500-plus soldiers during fighting near Kharkiv, the Ukrainian military claimed.
Kurilo and the other soldiers belonged to the 200th Motorised Rifle Brigade based in Pechenga, Ukraine said.
First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin was killed after Russia’s Moskva warship was sunk by Ukrainian missiles, Ukraine said.
Kuprin “died during an explosion and fire onboard the former flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation,” Anton Gerashenko, advisor to the Kyiv interior ministry said, according to The Evening Standard.
US officials confirmed that Ukrainian missiles had struck the prized Russian ship and killed an unknown number of sailors, per The New York Times.
Lieutenant Colonel Denis Mezhuev, commander of the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Sevastopol Red Banner regiment, died in Ukraine, according to The Times of London.
Although his death as not been confirmed by the Kremlin, several social media users, including a Russian poet and composer, posted messages mourning Mezhuev’s death, the paper reported.
Maj. Gen. Vladimir Petrovich Frolov, deputy commander of the 8th Army, waskilled while battling Ukrainian forces, Russian media reported.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov confirmed his death, calling the fallen general a “true patriot” who died fighting in Ukraine, according to Russian newspaper Fontanka and Russian news agency TASS.
The governor attended his funeral on April 16, where the general was buried with military honors, Fontanka reported.
Lieutenant Colonel Miras Bashakov died in Ukraine, Russian media reported.
A funeral was held for him in St. Petersburg on April 12, according to Russian newspaper Fontaka.
Colonel Ivan Grishin, commander of Russia’s 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, died in Ukraine, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The colonel died of shrapnel wounds to the abdomen near Kharkiv, Ukraine, according to The Daily Mail.
Lieutenant Colonel Vyacheslav Savinov, who headed Russian artillery intelligence, was killed in Ukraine, a Russian artillery school confirmed.
Savinov was the deputy chief of staff of the Russian Missile Troops and Artillery and head of artillery reconnaissance.
Colonel Denis Kozlov died in Ukraine while trying to build a pontoon for Russian troops to advance across a river, according to Russian media outlets.
He was a commander of the 12th Separate Guards Engineers of Keningsbersko-Gorodokskaya Red Banner Brigade, according to the Evening Standard.
Kozlov is believed to have been among hundreds of Russian troops reportedly killed during a failed attempt to cross the River Donets in eastern Ukraine in May, according to the Evening Standard. The troops attempted to cross four times in broad daylight before they were beaten back with heavy losses, the outlet said.
The colonel was sent to Ukraine to replace Colonel Sergei Porokhnya, who was previously killed in Ukraine. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, local outlets said.
Major General Andrei Simonov was killed near the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian authorities said, according to The Kyiv Post.
The Ukrainian military attacked a field command post of the Russian 2nd Army on Saturday, striking more than 30 Russian armored vehicles, including tanks, according to the paper.
The general was among the 100 Russian soldiers killed in the attack, Presidential military adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, according to The Kyiv Post.
Simonov was a senior commander of electronic warfare, Ukrainian government advisor Anton Gerashchenko said on his Telegram account.
Major-General Roman Kutuzov reportedly died while leading an operation in Ukraine’s Donbas region, according to a Telegram post by Russian state television reporter Alexander Sladkov.
Other Russian media outlets including pro-Kremlin website Tsargrad confirmed his death, but it has not been acknowledged by the Kremlin.
Tsargrad said that the general was killed near Severodonetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine that has become a focus of the Russian military campaign.
Lieutenant General Roman Berdnikov was also rumored to have been killed in Ukraine, possibly in the same attack as Kutuzov, according to multiple unconfirmed reports.
His death was first reported by independent Russian-language Telegram channel Volya media. Volya reported that the general was killed in a shootout after his car was ambushed by Ukrainian forces.
Kanamat Botashev, a retired Major General of the Russian Air Force, was reported to have been shot and killed in Ukraine, making him the most senior Russian air force commander known to be killed in the war.
The Ukrainian military said that Botashev was killed when a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was shot down over the Lugansk region. The BBC said reports of his death were corroborated by one of his former colleagues.
Maj. Gen. Artem Nasbulin was reportedly killed in the Kherson region by High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missiles, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Odesa regional administration spokesperson, said on Telegram.
Russia has not confirmed his death.
This article continues to be updated.
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