Ukraine war: Putin loses ANOTHER colonel
Putin loses ANOTHER colonel in Ukraine: Close ally of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov is latest to be killed as death toll among high ranks hits 49
Lieutenant-colonel Zaur Dimayev killed Tuesday by shell in Luhansk, it is claimed Dimayev was the deputy commander of a Chechen special forces battalion Pictures show him posing alongside feared Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov It brings the total number of Russian colonels killed fighting to at least 49
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Russia has lost another colonel in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin‘s top brass continues to suffer heavy casualties in his miscalculated invasion.
Lieutenant-colonel Zaur Dimayev, deputy commander of the 4th battalion of the Akhmat Kadyrov special forces regiment, was killed Tuesday by an artillery barrage in the Donbas region, Telegram channel Baza reported today.
Dimayev was riding in a military SUV through the village of Kamyshevakha, Luhansk province, when it was hit by a Ukrainian shell, according to the site – which is thought to have links to Russian intelligence.
It brings the total number of Russian colonels killed fighting to at least 49, though no official tally has been published by either Kyiv or Moscow.
Lieutenant-colonel Zaur Dimayev (left), was killed when a Ukrainian shell hit the military SUV he was riding in Luhansk province on Tuesday (pictured right, warlord Ramzan Kadyrov)
The commander, a friend of feared Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, was said to have been killed instantly alongside his driver.
Two Chechen police officers were also said to have been killed, with another four wounded. Their conditions are not clear.
Chechen special forces – known colloquially as Kadyrovites after their leader – have increasingly been dragged into combat in Ukraine after Russia’s military was mauled failing to take Kyiv.
Videos show they were heavily involved in fighting in Mariupol, and have also been involved in trench warfare in Donbas – alongside the armed forces of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.
High-ranking commanders have also been dragged into the bloodshed, thought to be because poor organisation has forced them to the front to oversee the fighting.
Just last week, Russia confirmed that Lieutenant colonel Alexander Dosyagayev, 34, believed to be one of the country’s top paratroopers, had been killed.
Dosyagayev was a commander of an airborne assault battalion of the 104th paratrooper regiment, which had been recognised as Russia’s most elite.
Troops from the 104th were reportedly in Bucha, the scene of alleged rape and torture atrocities committed by Putin’s forces earlier in the war.
Col Vladimir Ivanov, 41, part of the defence ministry’s department of Information and Mass Communication, was also confirmed dead.
Russia is suffering heavy losses amid Putin’s ill-planned invasion of Ukraine, as it battles for control of the eastern Donbas region
Russian military vehicles destroyed on a road near the village of Kutuzivka, Kharkiv region, after Ukraine pushed Putin’s forces back from the city
Ivanov had been killed back in March but his death was only announced recently, thought to be a deliberate tactic by Russia to keep the true toll of its war hidden.
Though the exact number of Russian forces killed in the fighting is unclear – perhaps even to Putin’s commanders – Western intelligence estimates that more than 15,000 have been killed. Kyiv puts the number significantly higher, at more than 30,000.
US officials said Tuesday that some 20 per cent of Russia’s combat forces in Ukraine – estimated at 150,000 before the war started – are now out of action. That would mean 30,000 killed or wounded in action.
America also believes that Russia has lost more than 1,000 tanks and is struggling to replace them due to sanctions, perhaps explaining why 50-year-old models were recently filmed heading to the front having been taken out of long-term storage.
Russia is currently fighting a bloody battle for control of the Donbas region, with both sides thought to be suffering heavy losses on a frontline described as ‘hell’.
Fighting is currently concentrated around the city of Severodonetsk, one of the last Ukrainian strongholds in Luhansk province, which appears on the verge of falling to Russian forces.
Putin’s men will then only need to capture the city of Lysychansk – located just a few hundreds yards away across an industrial zone – to claim ownership of Luhansk.
Heavy fighting is currently underway in the city of Severodonetsk in Ukraine’s east, which is in danger of falling to Russia. But Ukrainian counter-attacks are also underway in the south
The cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, around 35 miles west of Lysyschansk, will then be the main obstacles to capturing the whole of the Donbas.
Ukraine has attempted to play down recent Russian advances, saying they provide propaganda for Putin but little tactical advantage.
Kyiv’s generals still believe they can ultimately win the war, provided Western allies keep supplying weapons for their troops to push back Russian forces.
To that end, Joe Biden on Tuesday announced the US will be sending advanced rocket artillery to the frontlines as part of a new $700million shipment.
Though he did not specify the system in question, it is expected he will send M270 MLRS – a Soviet-era artillery system designed specifically to counter Russia.
He made the announcement in an op-ed for the New York Times in which he laid out America’s ultimate goal in Ukraine: To weaken Russia to the point where Ukraine can negotiate a peace deal it is satisfied with.
‘We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,’ he said.
