Putin loses 7 generals, 40 high ranking officers since invasion of Ukraine

Russia has reportedly lost its 40th high-ranking officer amidst its ongoing bloody invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to seven generals killed in battle since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine commenced.

Across the invasion, Russia has suffered heavy casualties with over 12,000 troops dead and at least five top generals also believed to have been killed.

However, as the war passes its 50th day, Vladimir Putin’s forces have repeatedly lost its 40th high-ranking officer.

This comes as a Russian Black Sea flagship was sunk after being hit in a missile attack, according to a Ukrainian official, early Friday.

Unconfirmed reports say 300 Russian sailors who were aboard have died.

Lieutenant Colonel Denis Mezhuev, commander of the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Sevastopol Red Banner regiment, died in battle according to reports in both Russia and Ukraine.

Details about his death were not given and it becomes the latest in a long line to not be confirmed by the Russian government.

Ukraine now claims that Russia has lost a total of seven generals and 33 colonels so far in this war.

The huge scale of the deaths suffered by Russia continues to defy Kremlin claims that their “special military operation” is going to plan.

Since the war began on February 24, the total number of Russian deaths are believed to be in the region of 20,000 but Moscow stopped releasing the official death count early on.

Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, Russia’s first general to die during its invasion of Ukraine.

Mezhuev is the latest in a line of high-ranking officials to die.

The first was Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky who died only four days into the invasion, on February 28.

He was only four positions below the head of the entire armed forces and was reportedly killed by a sniper.

Since his death, a number of other top ranking generals have died.

One of the most recent high-ranking deaths was Lieutenant General Andrey Mordvichev, one of Putin’s most trusted leaders.

Some of the dead Russian commanders were said to have come to the frontline, something they would normally do if there were issues over decision-making, or their seniority was needed to push their troops forward.

Mordvichev was one of Putin’s most senior commanders and his death marked the fifth Moscow general reportedly killed so far.

Meanwhile, it has also being claimed that the captain of the Moskva missile cruiser who died in the catastrophe it faced in the Black Sea, was the one who ordered the bombing of Ukrainian soldiers that refused to surrender on Snake Island, on the first day of the invasion by Russia.

First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin, 44, was reportedly killed after the ship was fatally holed by Ukrainian Neptune missiles, according to Kyiv sources.

The Moskva was one of Vladimir Putin’s largest ships and had already been used to devastating effect in the conflict, most notably at Snake Island.

On the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the Moskva gained notoriety after calling on a small garrison of Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender – to which they memorably radioed an expletive-laden message of refusal.

After asking the Ukrainian defenders of the island to surrender, the Moskva’s captain was told to “go f*** himself” by the brave soldiers.

Kuprin gave the order to bombard Snake Island on the first day of the war.

He “died during an explosion and fire on board the former flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation,” said Anton Gerashenko, advisor to the Kyiv interior ministry.

The official added: “We do not mourn.”

Other sources support the claim that Captain Kuprin was killed.

Russia has claimed that the crew was evacuated but there are increasing fears for lost lives on the battleship.

A “farewell ceremony” to the cruiser held in Sevastopol, Saturday, at a monument in honour of the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet.

There was no immediate confirmation from Moscow on Kuprin, but Russia has failed to announce many prominent military deaths in the 51-day war.

Exiled Russian politician Ilya Ponomarev, 46, who eight years ago was the only MP to vote against Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea, said he believes only 58 out of a usual crew number of 510 survived the Moskva disaster.

There are also reports that Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, has been detained over the loss of the flagship.

It comes following fears that the Moskva ship may have had nuclear cruise missiles on board when it sank.

Moscow was towing the warship back to port – after claiming the missile attack was simply ammunition exploding on board instead but it sank under tow “in a storm” not far from port.

However, Ukrainian sources have said that there is a real worry that there were several nuclear missiles onboard the vessel which sank off Sevastopol.

It has also been claimed that ill-fated Russian warship had been carrying several nuclear weapons when it was hit by Ukrainian missiles fired from the coast.

This would be a devastating blow to the Russian President, already dealing with one of the heaviest blows yet to Moscow’s war effort after Kyiv provided a stunning symbol of its resistance against a better-armed foe when it attacked Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea jewel.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Samus, deputy director of the Lviv-based Centre for Army Studies, Conversion and Disarmament, warned the nuclear weapons may not have been damaged by the explosion.

He said: “On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads – two units.

“They would be in a protected place, so most likely they were not damaged by the explosion.”

No warship the size of ‘Moskva’ has been sunk during conflict since Argentina’s General Belgrano was torpedoed by the British in the 1982 Falklands war.

The 12,490-tonne Moskva cruiser is the biggest Russian warship to be sunk in action since World War Two.

Originally built in the Soviet era, the Moskva entered service in the early 1980s. The vessel was actually built in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv, which has been heavily bombed by Russia in recent days.

The guided missile cruiser was previously deployed by Moscow in the Syria conflict where it supplied Russian forces in the country with naval protection from the Mediterranean.

It is the second major vessel Russia has lost since the start of its invasion of Ukraine.