The commander of Russia's 49th combined army was killed in a strike near Ukraine's southern city of Kherson, marking the country's seventh general to be killed in the country since hostilities began a month ago.
According to Ukraine's defense ministry, Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev was killed at the Chornobaivka airbase near the southern city of Kherson, the first city to be occupied by Russian troops, reports the BBC.
Russia has been using Chornobaivka as a command post, and Ukraine has attacked its forces there several times, the BBC reported, quoting the Ukrainain media.
According to a Western official, Rezantsev was the seventh general to die in Ukraine and the second lieutenant general. Russia, however, has only confirmed the death of one commanding officer, Maj. Gen Andrey Sukhovetsky, who was killed by a sniper on March 3.
His death preceded that of Maj. Gen. Vitaly Gerasimov, the chief of staff of Russia's 41st combined army, who was killed on March 7 outside the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Both Sukhovetsky and Gerasimov were part of Russia's military operations in Crimea and Syria.
The BBC reported Saturday that it's believed that the low morale of the Russian troops has forced senior officers to move closer to the front lines, an unusual place for senior Russian officers to be placed.
Further, the Ukrainian military intercepted a conversation with a Russian soldier complaining that Rezantsev had been claiming just four days after the war began that it would be finished within hours.
Another lieutenant general, Andrei Mordvichev, was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian strike at the Chornobaivka base on March 18.
A source inside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's inner circle told The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine has a military intelligence team dedicated to targeting Russia's generals.
The invading troops are believed to be using open communication systems, including mobile phones and analog radios, which could be revealing the high-ranking officers' locations.
Meawnhile, Friday, a Western official reported that a Russian colonel whose unit experienced "many losses" to his unit was deliberately run over with a tank and killed by his own troops.
The official said the death of Col. Yuri Medvechek, who led the 37 Motor Rifle Brigade, "gives an insight into some of the morale challenges that Russian forces are having."
According to Russia, 1,351 soldiers have died since the war, which it calls a "special military operation," began in Ukraine, but Kyiv and officials from the West put the number much higher.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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