DROPPING LIKE FLIES
Putin loses ANOTHER commander as General Alexander Tatarenko among 10 dead in Storm Shadow missile strike
Ukraine is launching targeted strikes to kill Putin's top brass - with dozens already dead
VLADIMIR Putin has lost another General in his war against Ukraine, reports claim.
Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko, 63, was the most senior of 10 military officers killed in a suspected Storm Shadow missile strike on the Belbek airbase in occupied Crimea.
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He was in charge of the facility, which was used for strikes on Ukraine and to strengthen Russia's grip on the Black Sea peninsula.
The blast - recorded on video - is said to have damaged a Russian radar and communications complex, as well as military equipment at the base near Sevastopol.
Unconfirmed reports say there was some “collateral damage” to Russian war planes.
Russia has not announced Tatarenko’s death in the attack two days ago - but it has now been reported on Telegram channels.
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Spy Dossier channel reported that “seven British-French-made Storm Shadow/SCALP ALCMs were launched towards the airfield".
It added: “Four were shot down by air defence forces, three hit the target.
"In particular, between 5.31pm and 5.42pm on Wednesday “two missiles hit the command post of the 38th Fighter Aviation Regiment [military unit 80159, Belbek].
“Another hit the airfield communications point.”
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The report said: “Ten military personnel were killed as a result of the strike.
“Among the dead is the commander of the aviation squadron of the fighter regiment, Alexander Tatarenko.”
Crimean Wind - a Ukrainian channel - reported: “Ten Russian military personnel were liquidated, including the commander of the aviation squadron, Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko.”
The missiles came by a new route, over the sea, rather than overland, said reports.
He is believed to be the 13th Russian general killed in the 23-month war.
Tatarenko was married and is believed to have retired but returned to serve during Putin’s war.
He was a pilot on Su-17, Su-27 and An-26 planes.
He graduated in 1981 from the Stavropol Higher Military Aviation School of Air Defence Pilots and Navigators, in 1994 from the Military Academy of Air Defence, and in 2008 from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
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In late November, Putin lost Major-General Vladimir Zavadsky, 45, deputy commander of the 14th Army Corps.
Reports said he was killed by an exploding Russian mine.
Putin's top brass killed one by one
MANY top Russian generals have been slaughtered since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
Ukraine's bold counteroffensive missile attacks, campaigns and battles have cut down many of Vlad's most senior commanders.
Admiral Viktor Sokolov was Moscow's top admiral in Crimea and was said to be killed in September.
Ukrainian special forces apparently took out the commander, 61, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack on the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was one of the first to die when he was shot dead by a sniper in March, in a major blow to Putin's resources.
He was reportedly killed at the battle for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv.
Vitaly Gerasimov, another of Putin's senior officers, was killed in conflict outside Ukraine's Kharkiv, just days after Sukhovetsky's death.
Gerasimov was awarded a medal for "capturing" the disputed province of Crimea in 2014, and also received medals after leading troops in Syria and in the second Chechen war.
Major General Andrei Kolesnikov, of the 29th Combined Arms Army, was killed in March 2022, Ukraine's defence mistry said at the time.
Colonel Andrei Zakharov, commander of a tank regiment, was killed in an a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv also in March 2022.
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 at in the south of Ukraine.
General Magomed Tushaev died in February 2022 when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.
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