An apparent eighth Russian general has been killed in Ukraine amid mounting strategic setbacks for Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the country. The general in question is Maj. Gen. Vladimir Frolov, who’d served as deputy commander of the Eighth Army and whose forces had reportedly been near the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, according to the Ukrainian news outlet known as Euromaidan Press. Frolov’s funeral was held in St. Petersburg, and in a rare Russian acknowledgement of their substantial losses, Russian government media reported Frolov’s demise. As explained by Foreign Policy journalist Jack Detsch, “Western officials believe that Russia has lost a disproportionate number of generals in Ukraine – likely the most of any modern military since WWII – because [of] a failure to communicate orders to the front, forcing flag officers to do it themselves.”
Russia recently sustained another historic loss with the sinking of its large warship called the Moskva in the Black Sea after a successful strike by Ukrainian personnel. Moskva is the English transliteration of the Russian word for Moscow, meaning that the ship was named after Russia’s capital. The vessel, which had a crew of somewhere around 500, is the largest warship that Russia has lost in conflict since World War II. Russia has predictably disputed the Ukrainian claim to have hit the now sunk vessel, but the U.S. believes the Ukrainian account, according to a top U.S. official cited by reporter Idrees Ali. Thousands upon thousands of individual Russian troops have already died amid fighting in Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials also claim to have in some form or another wiped out 163 Russian planes, 145 helicopters, more than 760 tanks, and over half a dozen boats — presumably including the Moskva. (Certain items in working order have been taken by Ukraine.) An official involved in NATO recently gave some credence to Ukrainian estimates of Russian troop losses, saying that Russia could have already seen the deaths of up to 15,000 of its soldiers, although that official also said the total could be lower.
U.S. now believes the Russian warship Moskva that sunk was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles, a senior U.S. official says.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) April 15, 2022
Ukraine, meanwhile, has lost somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 soldiers, according to estimates provided by the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Civilian casualties in the country appear to be higher; in Mariupol alone, the death toll is believed to be in the tens of thousands. The mayor recently described the total as at above 10,000, and unconfirmed estimates that separately emerged indicated Mariupol’s death toll to have reached between 20,000 and 22,000. Zelenskyy has also described the city’s losses as in the tens of thousands — and that’s just one city. Elsewhere, more than 900 civilian corpses have been recovered in the region around Kyiv following Russian ground troops’ recent departures from the area. Andriy Nebytov, who leads the main directorate of the National Police of Ukraine in the capital region, recently remarked: “All these people died at the hands of the Russian army… The dismantling of the rubble in Makariv and Borodianka continues. We are sure that the bodies of the dead are still under the rubble.” Despite Russian exits around Kyiv, Putin’s forces are apparently preparing for further violence in the eastern and southern portions of the country amid continuing carnage.
⚡️ Lviv court arrests pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk without bail.
Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man in Ukraine escaped from house arrest in late February following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Medvedchuk’s Opposition Platform party was banned in Ukraine in March.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 16, 2022
