Ukraine: Putin’s fourth general, seven elite SWAT fighters killed

Authorities of the Ukrainian government have revealed that a fourth Russian general has been killed by the country’s forces.

47-year-old Major-General Oleg Mityaev is said to have died in the storming of Mariupol, along with seven members of an elite SWAT team.

A picture of the corpse of the decorated military officer, a father-of-two, was released by Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.

The commander of the 150th motorised rifle division is the fourth Russian General to die in the war, according to Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had reported the death of another Russian general in his nightly address but did not name him.

Photos released in Russia also showed six elite “maroon beret” special forces fighters from the Vityaz Special Purpose Centre of the Dzerzhinsky Division.

The unit is named after feared secret police founder of the Soviet Union’s secret police, Felix Dzerzhinsky.

Mityaev’s death comes after that of a spy captain during a “top-secret” operation in Ukraine meaning Vladimir Putin has now lost a total of 13 commanders in the invasion.

Following the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity in February 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, and Russian-backed separatists seized part of south-east Ukraine, starting the war in Donbas. In 2021, Russia began a large military build-up along its border with Ukraine.