OEKRAÏNE
Commandanten onder Russische doden
March 17, 2022 - Three weeks after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Russia has lost as many soldiers as the number of U.S. troops killed over 20 years in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
The Pentagon estimates that Russia has lost more than 7,000 troops. In contrast, the Russian Ministry of Defence admits to just 498 combat deaths.
The Ukrainian newspaper Telegraf published on Tuesday (March 15, 2022) news of the death of Major General Oleg Mityaev, commander of the 150th motorised rifle division. Mityaev’s demise is the fifth loss of a senior commanding officer. Within four days of the invasion on February 24, Putin had lost two generals -- Chechen warlord Magomed Tushaev and Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky of the 41st Combined Arms Army.
On March 7 and 11, Ukrainian forces also killed Major General Vitaly Gerasimov of the 41st Combined Arms Army and Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army.
On March 11, Latvia-based Russian news site Meduza reported the arrest of two members of the Federal Security Service (FSB). The head of the FSB’s so-called 5th Service, Sergei Beseda, and his deputy, Anatoly Bolukh, have allegedly been detained for providing poor intelligence.
During the decade that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan lasted, 1979 to 1989, the conflict claimed the lives of just four generals. Russia has already passed that number of dead generals in just 20 days of invading Ukraine, highlighting the military disaster that this offensive has become for Putin.
- U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan (Costs of war, Brown University)
- As Russian Troop Deaths Climb, Morale Becomes an Issue, Officials Say (New York Times)
- Four Russian generals killed in Ukraine in 20 days (Telegraf)
- Putin allegedly places his senior spies under arrest for faulty intelligence (Intel News)