HEAVY LOSSES
Putin suffers ANOTHER blow as commander of Russian Black Sea ship is killed days after sinking of Moskva flagship
VLADIMIR Putin has suffered another blow as the commander of a Russian Black Sea vessel has been killed days after the humiliating sinking of the Moskva flagship.
Captain Alexander Chirva died from wounds sustained in a battle with Ukrainian defenders, said the governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev.
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Chirva was commander of the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov, which is part of the Black Sea Fleet.
Razvozhayev failed to give more details about the circumstances of the captain's death.
There were reports that the Caesar Kunikov was hit by Ukrainian fire on March 24, but it is unclear if this was the incident which led to the captain's death.
The announcement follows the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, Moskva, after it was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles.
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It's believed the head of the Black Sea Fleet Vice, Admiral Igor Osipov, was suspended or detained over the blundering mess.
On March 20, it became known that Deputy Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paliy, 51, had died in Ukraine.
He was killed during the battles for Mariupol.
Chirva, a 3rd rank captain, participated in Russia’s military operations in Syria in 2015 and 2016.
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His death follows the killing of another commander in yet another serious blow to Putin's war efforts.
Ukraine's military claims it killed Colonel Ivan Grishin, the commander of Russia's 49th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, in the Russian border town of Smolensk on Saturday in what is being dubbed the "Ukrainian Safari 2.0", according to certain .
Russia has already lost eight generals in its unwinnable war in Ukraine, which is said to have cost the lives of 20,000 troops.
Major General Vladimir Frolovov, deputy commander of the 8th Combined Arms Army, become the eighth Russian general to be killed in battle.
Major Frovolov was laid to rest with full military honours in St Petersburg.
The exact details of how and where he died were not disclosed.
Russia also lost another colonel, Miras Bashakov, a tank battalion commander, according to reports.
He was the 34th senior officer known to have died in a war that has haemorrhaged Putin’s battlefield top brass.
And last month Putin lost another general, Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev, commander of the 8th Combined Arms Army, who was killed in battle at Chornobaivka, near the southern city of Kherson.
Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army and Vitaly Gerasimov, were also killed.
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Meanwhile, the latest estimates suggest Putin's savages have now lost an eyewatering 756 battle tanks since the war began.
They have also seen 163 planes and 144 helicopters blasted out of the sky above war-ravaged Ukraine.
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RUSSIA'S SLAIN COMMANDERS
Putin's top brass killed since the invasion of Ukraine:
- Major Dmitry Toptun
- Major Alexey Osokin
- Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev
- Major General Vitaly Gerasimov
- Major General Andrei Kolesnikov
- Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky
- Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko
- Colonel Sergei Porokhyna
- Colonel Sergei Sukharev
- Colonel Andrei Zakharov
- Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky
- Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov
- Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov
- Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov
- Major Viktor Maksimchuk
- General Magomed Tushaev
- Colonel Alexei Sharov
- Colonel Yuri Medvedev
- Colonel Denis Kurilo
- Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kornik
- Major General Vladimir Frolov
- Tank battalion commander Miras Bashakov
- Major-General Oleg Mityaev
- Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev
- Colonel Ivan Grishin
- Captain Alexander Chirva
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