The Ukrainian military has confirmed the death of a senior pro-Russian separatist general in the field, following a report by Russian state television on Sunday, transmits MIA.
The commander of the 1st Army Corps of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, Major General Kutuzov, had been “officially denazified and demilitarised,” the Strategic Communications Administration of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Sunday night, according to the Ukrayinska Pravda news website.
Kutuzov was reportedly killed while leading a Russian attack on a village near the town of Popasna in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military earlier reported that the Russian offensive had been unsuccessful and that the enemy was forced to retreat with “considerable losses.”
Several Russian generals have lost their lives since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, though Moscow has only officially confirmed the death of four. Ukraine at one point claimed that as many as seven had been killed in the conflict, only for two of them to later turn up alive.
The Defence Ministry in Kiev warned of possible fresh missile strikes on Kiev on Sunday, after the Ukrainian capital sustained the first attacks since the end of April. “We have always been transparent in saying that Kiev is constantly under threat,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said on Sunday.
Even if many residents had returned to the capital since the conflict began, she added, “we should still understand that the war is in its hot phase and Kiev remains the Russian Federation’s main target.”
