Andrei Sukhovetsky, the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, has been killed in the war with Ukraine.
This was made known in a social media post by his colleague. Sukhovetsky was said to have died on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian news outlets.
They referred to a post on Russian social media platform VKontakte written by Sergei Chipilev, a deputy of the Russian veterans’ group, Combat Brotherhood.
It said: ‘It is with great sorrow that we learned of the tragic news about the death of our friend, Major General Andrei Aleksandrovich Sukhovetsky, on the territory of Ukraine during a special operation.’
Sukhovetsky, according to a report in the Ukrainian outlet Fakti, had been in his latest role since October 2021 and was based in Novosibirsk.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence announced that 498 of its servicemen had been killed, more than 1,500 were injured since the invasion of Ukraine was launched last Thursday.
The spokesman for the Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, on Wednesday, rejected reports about ‘incalculable losses’ among Russian forces as ‘disinformation’.
But Ukraine had argued that the true number of Russian troops killed is higher than what Moscow admits.
Konashenkov denied that conscripts or cadets have been involved in the operation in Ukraine, dismissing media reports suggesting otherwise.
But Russian independent organisations that help parents find their sons have said conscripts were taking part and had been made to sign documents before crossing the border.
Konashenkov also said more than 2,870 Ukrainian troops have been killed and some 3,700 more sustained injuries, while 572 others have been captured by the Russians.
The claim is yet to be independently verified, and Ukraine has not commented on these figures.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said more than 2,000 civilians have died in the conflict, but again it is impossible to verify this claim.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that it has recorded 752 civilian casualties since the start of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
It said that up till midnight on March 1, the UN had recorded 227 killed, including 15 under the age of 18, and 525 injured.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started on February 24.
Since then, Ukraine has suffered widespread damages and loss of lives amid Russia’s major bombing campaign.
