Russian spy captain killed on ‘top secret’ operation in Ukraine as Putin loses ANOTHER commander with 12 dead so far
A RUSSIAN spy captain was killed during a "top-secret" operation in Ukraine meaning Vladimir Putin has now lost a total of 12 commanders in the invasion.
GRU military intelligence spy Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, died in the carnage in Mariupol but details of his death have not been released.
“Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of the death of the Tyumen hero are not disclosed,” said a statement.
The GRU was behind the poisoning with Novichok of its former spy Sergei Skripal - who had defected to Britain - in Salisbury.
Pictures emerged of father-of-one Glushchak’s funeral in Russia, where he was buried with full military honours and a guard of honour.
On the day the military intelligence officer died he had spoken to both his wife and mother in Russia, it was revealed.
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He called to congratulate them on International Women’s Day but on the same day in the evening they learned he had been killed.
His death coincides with the first expressions of anger and dismay on the number of coffins now returning to Russia, even though those officially acknowledged as having fallen in Ukraine are seen as a small fraction of the total number which best estimates suggest now run into many thousands.
Glushchak will be posthumously decorated.
Moscow has given no up-to-date total of those killed in the war, and named only a handful of the fallen, which include several generals.
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Many funerals currently visible in the media are for soldiers slain at the end of February.
Russia is taking two weeks or more to transport their bodies back to relatives, many of whom live in the Russian Far East thousands of miles from the bloody war zone.
A funeral was also held for Corporal Danil Novolodsky, 24, a senior gunner on an air assault artillery battery.
He was awarded the Order of Courage under a decree signed by Vladimir Putin.
He was from Ulan-Ude, capital of the republic of Buryatia in Siberia, a mainly Buddhist region, which has suffered a disproportionate number of fatalities among Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
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Ahead of the invasion, tens of thousands of troops were sent west on the Trans-Siberian Railway to fight in the coming war.
Another funeral from the same region was held for Vladimir Plekhanov, 24, an orphan raised by a living foster family.
Sagyndyk Kudaibergenov, 22, from Tyumen, like the GRU agent, was buried with military honours, say reports.
He was killed in mortar fire while deploying communications equipment across a river.
He was killed on 26 February but his funeral was only on 11 March.
A total of 12 of Putin's military commanders have now been killed in battle since the Russian leader began the invasion of Ukraine.
Colonel Andrei Zakharov was killed in a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv followed by Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army.
Another general, Vitaly Gerasimov, was killed in fighting outside Kharkiv.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, who led a Marine brigade, died along with Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov and Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, who led air assault troops.
Safronov and Glebov were killed when Ukrainian forces have recaptured the city of Chuhuiv, while Zizevsky was killed in the south of Ukraine.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper during the fighting for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the Kyiv.
And General Magomed Tushaev died when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.
Also among the Russian dead is warlord Vladimir Zhonga who led the Sparta Battalion, a Neo-Nazi military unit that has the Kremlin's backing.
Two other unnamed Russian senior commanders have also been killed in the fighting.
The bloody invasion has been taking a toll on Russia's forces with Moscow reportedly asking China for help, sparking fears of World War Three.
It is believed the Russian President has asked Chinese president Xi Jinping for both military equipment and support.
Kremlin officials have allegedly made "apocalyptic" predictions about the conflict in Ukraine, describing the invasion on February 24 as a "mistake".
And former Nato chief Rose Gottemoeller reckons Putin’s forces have been weakened by Ukraine’s resolve.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the Russians threw at Kyiv some of their most elite forces to begin with.
“They were hoping for a lightning strike to basically assassinate President Zelensky, take out the government in Kyiv and have a quick victory.
“But it didn’t work out that way and they ended up stalling on the highway outside of Kyiv.
“Now we’ve seen those forces disperse, and disperse into the woods.
“But I’m wondering frankly if they have the ability to regroup at this point because their logistics are in such bad shape.
“They don’t really have the fuel supplies they need for a push on to Kyiv. So I’m rather sceptical that they will gain much success in an assault on Kyiv, at least with those forces.”
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Last night Russia launched missile strikes just 12 miles from the Polish border with Ukraine leaving at least 35 people dead.
Ukraine claimed Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv military base near Lviv, injuring 134 people.
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