Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says another Russian general has been killed during fighting.
He didn’t name the officer, but an adviser to Ukraine’s interior ministry said Maj Gen Oleg Mityaev had been killed by the far-right Azov Battalion.
Gen Mityaev was killed near Mariupol, Ukrainian media said.
He is the fourth general reportedly killed, leading some to ask why such senior members of the Russian military are so close to the front-line.
Analysts believe that around 20 generals are leading Russian operations in Ukraine, meaning that if all the reported deaths are confirmed, one fifth of Russia’s generals have been killed in action.
With such high losses, some experts believe that the generals have not simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that Ukraine is likely to be targeting top-level Russian officers.
“I don’t think this is an accident. One is an accident, but this many is targeted”, Rita Konaev of Georgetown University told the BBC.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a person within President Zelensky’s inner circle said Ukraine had a military intelligence team dedicated to targeting Russia’s officer class.
“They look for high profile generals, pilots, artillery commanders,” the person told the newspaper.
With Ukraine’s military outnumbered, its targeting of high-level individuals could be an important part of the information war, according to Ms Konaev.
“Assuming there is an element of targeting, this feeds Ukraine’s own morale. There is the element of being victorious. It is inspiring.”
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