One of President Vladimir Putin’s top generals has been killed in a Ukrainian ambush in the battle for the Donbas region, Russian state media confirmed, while another commander is also reported to be dead.
Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov had been commanding troops from the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a reporter for Rossiya 1 television channel said on Sunday.
Confirmation of his death brings the number of senior officers Russia has lost in the 14-week invasion to 60.
"The general had led soldiers into attack, as if there are not enough colonels," journalist Alexander Sladkov wrote on the Telegram app. "On the other hand, Roman was the same commander as everyone else, albeit a higher rank."
Lt Gen Roman Berdnikov was killed in the same attack carried out by Ukrainian forces, a group of independent journalists said.
Moscow has not confirmed his death but it would make Berdnikov the 12th Russian general to be killed in the war. It would also mean that the two most senior Russian commanders in Donetsk had been wiped out in a single attack, a massive blow to the Kremlin’s bid to take control of the eastern region.
Moscow last week lost its 49th colonel since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched on February 24.
The Ukrainian army posted a photo of what it claimed was the body of Kutuzov on its Facebook page.
In a statement, Ukraine’s armed forces attempted to make light of Russia’s reasoning for the war, which it calls a “special military operation” to achieve the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine.
“The Commander of the 1st Army Corps of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov, has been officially de-Nazified and demilitarised."
Berdnikov had until last month served as commander of the Russian armed forces in Syria before he was repositioned to oversee Mr Putin’s troops and the DPR.
Claims of his death came from the Volya Telegram channel, which comprises independent war journalists working on both sides of the conflict. They said Berdnikov died in an ambush in which some troops managed to escape while others lost their lives.
“On the morning of June 5, Lt Gen Roman Berdnikov, who led the Russian troops and units of the DPR from Donetsk, left with the headquarters on a working trip,” said the post. “On the way, presumably on a bridge, the vehicles of the headquarters were attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group.”
“After that, our sources reported that Roman Berdnikov died in this battle. A little later, two more sources confirmed this, specifying that other senior officers could have died during the battle.”
Britain last month said Russian generals were being made scapegoats for Moscow's debilitating war effort in Ukraine after President Putin sacked several top military figures.
Ukraine's military reported that its forces had repelled seven attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Sunday, destroying four Russian tanks and shooting down a combat helicopter.
In Donetsk, invading forces have been advancing in recent days in territory north of the Siverskyi Donets river, in advance of what Kyiv believes could be a push on the major city of Sloviansk, which had a pre-war population of 111,000.
Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Sunday that Ukrainian counterattacks in the key eastern city of Severodonetsk over the past 24 hours were likely to blunt any operational momentum Russia had gained. Moscow was deploying poorly equipped separatist fighters in the city to limit the risk to its regular forces, it said.
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British citizens Aiden Aslin, left, and Shaun Pinner, right, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim, centre, sit behind bars in a courtroom in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian enclave of Donetsk. The three were sentenced to death by pro-Moscow rebels for fighting on Ukraine's side. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier fires a machine gun near the town of New York in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. Reuters -
The gutted remains of cars lie along a road during heavy fighting in Severodonetsk. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the city of Bakhmut, in the breakaway Donetsk enclave. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers and members of civilian demining organisations take part in a training exercise for bomb disposal experts in Peja, Kosovo. Getty -
Volunteers clear debris near a damaged shopping mall after night shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. EPA -
A man walks past a college on fire after a strike in Lysychansk in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
Ukrainian service members near the town of Soledar. Reuters -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. AFP -
Residents kneel during a funeral procession for senior lieutenant Vasyl Herych, 31, of the 15th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion, who was killed in Perechyn, Ukraine. Reuters -
People hide in a bomb shelter in the city of Lysychansk in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ivan Sosnin, 19, surveys the damage to his home in Lysychansk. AFP -
Ukrainian troops repair a tank in the Donbas region. AFP -
Ukrainian troops fire rockets towards Russian positions at a front line in the Donbas region. AFP -
Volunteers from a Danish NGO demonstrate how to search for explosive devices with help of a loop metal detector, outside the town of Ichnia in Ukraine. Reuters -
A firefighter takes a break after putting out a fire at a house in a district of Kharkiv that was bombed by Russian forces. Reuters -
Plumes of smoke rise from a house on fire after a military strike by Russian forces in Kharkiv. Reuters -
The damaged house of Inna Bobryntseva, a woman who died during Russian shelling, in Kharkiv. Ukrainian officials exhumed her body from her backyard as part of an investigation into war crimes. Reuters -
A man moves items from a damaged shop in Kharkiv after a Russian military strike the night before. Reuters -
Civilian militia men hold shotguns during training at a shooting range on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AFP -
A woman walks by a destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka. AFP -
Rescuers dismantle collapsing structures of a heavily damaged 16-storey residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
A Ukrainian bomb disposal worker carries unexploded ordnance during mine clearance work in the village of Yahidne, in the liberated territories of the Chernihiv region. AFP -
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, centre, visits the military during a trip to the Zaporizhzhia region. AFP -
Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a M777 Howitzer in the Donetsk region as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen manoeuvre a tank near the frontline in the Donetsk region. AP Photo -
The remains of the Darnytsia Car Repair Plant damaged by missile strikes in Kyiv. EPA -
A couple embrace on Maidan square in Kyiv. AP Photo -
Smoke rises from a residential area in Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said several explosions occurred following missile strikes in the Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts of the capital with no casualties reported. EPA -
A woman holds a poster showing Russian President Vladimir Putin during a protest against the war in Ukraine at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. AP -
Smoke rises in the background after Russian missile strikes in Kyiv. AP -
A Ukrainian serviceman pauses before going back to the frontline in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
Firefighters dampen down a rail facility in the Darnytsia district of Kyiv after a Russian air strike. EPA -
An elderly woman sits in front of destroyed houses after a missile strike, which killed a civilian, in the city of Druzhkivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP -
A man examines an apartment destroyed during shelling in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Five civilians were killed and 20 were injured. EPA -
Residents examine cars destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
Civilians are evacuated from apartments destroyed during shelling in Donetsk. EPA -
A man looks on as smoke rises after explosions were heard in Kyiv. Reuters -
Residents chat in front of a destroyed building in Borodianka, as Russia's attacks on Ukraine continue. Reuters -
A monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, damaged by shelling in Borodianka. Reuters -
Men scavenge a burnt Russian military vehicle for parts and scrap metal in Novyi Bykiv. Getty -
A crater and a destroyed building after a rocket attack on a small airfield near Kharkiv. EPA -
Maj Gen Roman Kutuzov and Lt Gen Roman Berdnikov have been killed in Ukraine, reporters said, as the war continues. AFP -
A girl rides a scooter past a destroyed building in the village of Horenka, Kyiv. AFP -
Pope Francis hugs a child during a meeting at the Vatican with children with disabilities and Ukrainian children who fled their country. Reuters -
Ukrainian emergency works at a damaged building following shelling in Kharkiv. AP -
Members of a medical rescue team gather inside their temporary base in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. AP -
A woman sits at a destroyed bus station in the city of Mariupol. AFP -
Residents are evacuated from Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. AP
Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region has in recent weeks played host to some of the fiercest clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces. Troops loyal to Kyiv experienced setbacks after retaking parts of the city from Russian forces, local officials said on Monday.
"Fighting is very fierce in Severodonetsk," regional governor Sergiy Gaiday told Ukraine's 1+1 television.
"Our defenders managed to counterattack and liberate half of the city but the situation has worsened for us."
