Ukrainian forces killed one of Russia’s top generals this week as the Russian Federation continues an invasion of Ukraine, according to multiple reports.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, Deputy Commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Russian Ground Forces, was 47 years old. According to the Russian outlet Pravda, “his comrade-in-arms Sergey Chipilev,” announced Sukhovetsky’s death on social media.
“With great pain, we learned the tragic news of the death of our friend, Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky, on the territory of Ukraine during the special operation. We express our deepest condolences to his family,” Chipilev wrote, said the publication.
Sukhovetsky was reportedly killed during a “special operation” in Ukraine.
In a tweet, journalist Christo Grozev said the loss of the general could be a “major demotivator,” for Russia.
“The fact is, we killed him,” Volodymyr Omelyan, a former minister of infrastructure for Ukraine who has joined the militia in Kyiv, told Fox News Digital Thursday.
However, the U.S. could not immediately confirm his death, according to a senior defense official cited by the outlet.
“If it’s true, it’s big,” Dan Hoffman, a former CIA officer and station chief, said of Sukhovetsky’s death.
The Associated Press reported that Sukovetsky’s death was confirmed by a local officers’ organization in the Krasnodar region in southern Russia. However, the outlet said the circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.
Sky News reported that Sukhovetsky was killed by sniper fire. A divisional commander and a regimental commander from Russia were also killed by Ukrainian forces, said the outlet.
A funeral ceremony for Sokhovetsky will be held in Novorossiisk, a port city near the Black Sea in Russia, said the AP.
According to Pravda, Sukhovetsky graduated from the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School in 1995 and started his career as a platoon commander before he became chief of staff of the Guards airborne assault unit. He was appointed as the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, said a November report from the Russian state-owned outlet TASS; was the head of the 7th Airborne Division; had served in Syria and received two commendations for bravery from the Kremlin, according to Fox News.
Russian forces began invading cities across Ukraine last Thursday. Around five days into the invasion, around 1,500 troops on each side of the battle had been killed, said The New York Times. There have also been hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries.
As of Tuesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 498 Russian troops have died and 1,597 more have been injured, NPR reported.
Fighting continued in Ukraine Friday, with a standoff between Ukrainian and Russian troops around the city of Mykolaiv, according to CNN, and a traffic jam of military vehicles in the capital city, Kyiv. Countries around the world have imposed sanctions on Russia for the invasion.
“They are already producing results. And the aim is not to harm the Russian people, but to pull the rock out from under the Kremlin’s war machine,” said High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell Fontelles Friday. “It is, however, unfortunately as a fact, that they will also affect people who are not in the inner circle of the Kremlin. And, until a certain point, ordinary people will also suffer the consequences of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war – because let us call it the way it has to be called – Putin’s war. And only Putin can end it.”
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