Ukrainian Intelligence Claims Senior Russian General Killed Near Kharkiv, Second In Recent Days
Major General Vitaly Gerasimov
Ukrainian intelligence says a top Russian military officer has been killed in fighting near the city of Kharkiv and has released what it says are intercepted phone calls that appear to partly corroborate the death.
If confirmed, Major General Vitaly Gerasimov would be the second top general to have been killed in fighting in Ukraine in recent weeks.
In a statement on March 7, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate said Gerasimov, a chief of staff and first deputy commander with Russia's 41st Combined Arms Army, had been killed along with several other senior officers.
The statement gave no details as to when or how he was killed.
There was also no independent confirmation of the death of Gerasimov, who was a decorated officer and veteran of the Second Chechen War in the early 2000s and, more recently, military operations in Syria and Crimea.
Moscow has given little public accounting of casualties among Russian troops since the new war erupted on February 24.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said that "there were dead and wounded," but gave no other figures.
On March 2, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, citing the ministry, said 498 Russian soldiers had died and another 1,597 were wounded.
Ukraine, however, has claimed its forces have killed more than 11,000 Russian troops.
In Photos: Russian Artillery, Bombs Pound Ukrainian Cities As Civilians Continue To Die
1/18The bodies of civilians killed on March 6 as they tried to evacuate Irpin during heavy shelling and bombing by Russian forces.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
2/18Ukrainian soldiers carry babies as they help a fleeing family to find a vehicle after crossing the Irpin River in the outskirts of Kyiv on March 5.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
3/18Local residents run for cover on March 6 as they escape from the town of Irpin, after heavy shelling on the only escape route used by locals, while Russian troops advanced toward the capital, Kyiv.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
4/18A house on fire following shelling in the town of Irpin, 26 kilometers west of Kyiv, on March 4.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
5/18Damage from shelling by Russian troops on the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv region.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
6/18A man and a child try to escape from the town of Irpin on March 6 after heavy Russian shelling.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
7/18A local resident reacts as a house is on fire after heavy shelling by Russian forces in Irpin on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
8/18Ukrainian civilians crowd under a destroyed bridge as they try to flee Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 5.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
10/18People cross a destroyed bridge as they try to leave the city of Irpin on March 5.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
11/18People stand next to a shell crater in front of a house damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
12/18First responders work at the scene after a Russian missile hit a building at Havryshivka Vinnytsya International Airport in Vinnytsya on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
13/18Ukrainian artillery fires on a cluster of Russian troops north of Kyiv, near Makariv, on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
14/18Ukrainian artillery fires on a cluster of Russian troops north of Kyiv, near Makariv, on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
15/18Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces hold NLAW anti-tank weapons at a checkpoint in Kyiv on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
16/18Ukrainian armed forces fire self-propelled howitzers at Russian positions outside Kyiv on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
17/18Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko visits a checkpoint of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces in Kyiv on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
18/18A child says goodbye to his father through the window of an evacuation train leaving from Kyiv to Lviv at Kyiv's central train station on March 6.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued unabated over the weekend, with Ukraine saying Russian forces had launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks across the country, including dropping powerful bombs on residential areas of Chernihiv, a city north of the capital, Kyiv.
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Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate also released two audio recordings of what it said were two Russian intelligence officers discussing the state of the fighting.
In one, one of the officers laments the death of Gerasimov. Later, the two discuss the poor state of encrypted communications being used by Russian forces.
Another Russian officer, General Andrei Sukhovetsky, who was also a deputy commander with the 41st Army, was reported killed on February 28 during the fighting in Ukraine.
Mike Eckel is a senior international correspondent reporting on political and economic developments in Russia, Ukraine, and around the former Soviet Union, as well as news involving cybercrime and espionage. He's reported on the ground on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the wars in Chechnya and Georgia, and the 2004 Beslan hostage crisis, as well as the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
