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Putin reeling as FOURTH general killed - horror for Russia as invasion dealt hammer blow
A FOURTH Russian general has been killed during the invasion of Ukraine in another major blow for President Vladimir Putin's forces.
08:58, Wed, Mar 16, 2022 | UPDATED: 11:56, Wed, Mar 16, 2022Ukraine: Burnt out Russian convoy vehicles in Kharkiv
Ukrainian authorities said that Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, died in the storming of Mariupol which has been under heavy siege by Russian troops. The general reportedly died along with seven members of an elite SWAT team in another major knock to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
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The elite special operations fighters from the notorious Dzerzhinsky Division of the country’s national guard are under the direct control of the Russian president.
A picture of Mityaev's body was released by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
He is the fourth Russian general to die in the war, according to Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported the death of another Russian general on Tuesday evening but did not name him.
The death of a Russian spy captain during a “top secret” operation was also reported yesterday, meaning that President Putin has now lost a total of 13 commanders since the invasion began on February 24.
GRU military intelligence spy Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, also died in the brutal fighting at Mariupol but details of his death have not been disclosed.
The GRU was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal with Novichok in Salisbury.
Oleg Mityaev was killed in the siege of Mariupol. (Image: Getty / East2West)
There are reportedly around 20 Russian generals leading the invasion, meaning a fifth of the military leaders have died in less than three week.
The high-profile military losses come as opposition to the invasion is growing among Russian people.
Widespread protests were held this weekend with thousands of Russians taking to the streets across the country to oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Moscow has not been giving an up-to-date total of troops killed in the war and have only named a handful of people who have fallen in the fighting, including a number of generals.
Criticism of the war has been permeating into Russia’s military circles in recent days, with a top Russian airman warning last week that the country’s forces have suffered losses on a scale that will “horrify” people.
Captain Alexander Garnaev, a well known military test pilot and recipient of the Kremlin’s prestigious Hero of Russia award, issued a dramatic condemnation of Putin’s “completely incomprehensible” war.
