Russia has lost another yet another general thanks to its grinding war against Ukraine, the latest in a string of casualties caused at least in part by President Vladimir Putin’s controversial tactic of sending senior military officials to its frontlines in an attempt to boost flagging morale.
Lieutenant General Oleg Yuryevich Tsokov, who was previously sanctioned by the EU for his “participation in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” was reportedly killed in an overnight missile strike in the city of Berdyansk.
Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, confirmed the news on Twitter Tuesday.
“Since August 2022 he commanded the 144th motorized rifle division of the 20th combined arms army of the Russian Federation,” Gerashchenko wrote. “He received the rank of lieutenant general in 2023. In addition to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he took part in two Chechen wars and the war in Syria.”
It was reported earlier this year that at least 20 Russian generals had been killed in the conflict already, according to Japanese intelligence figures.
Claims from Ukrainian media that the general was “liquidated” were corroborated by pro-war Russian Telegram channel Voenkory Russkoy Vesny, which claimed that he was killed by Storm Shadow missiles in Berdyansk.
“Colleagues speak of Tsokov as a competent officer and a good commander,” the channel posted in Russian.
According to the Telegram channel of Mariupol Mayor Peter Andryushchenko, the strike was likely an attack on the “Duna Hotel,” which has been seized by Russian forces to house military leadership.
“Locals report that almost nothing is left of the hotel,” the channel posted in Ukrainian. “Now, fast and heavy equipment are working on the site, dismantling the debris. The territory is surrounded. No one is missed.”
Tsokov was reportedly injured back in September by a Ukrainian artillery attack on his headquarters in Luhansk. He was evacuated to St. Petersburg and treated for a leg wound, but it’s unclear when he returned to Ukraine.
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