Vladimir Putin lost another colonel – the 57th in just four months of warwhile the fighting in Eastern Ukraine intensifies, writes “Independent”.
Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Kislyakov, 40, was buried Thursday with full military honors in his hometown in the Moscow region. Kislyakov, commander of a prestigious unit of Russian paratroopers, is the 57th known colonelkilled since President Putin ordered his troops to launch a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
According to reports, Kislyakov was Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Army and Chief of the Operations Department of the 11th Airborne Brigade. Details of where in Ukraine he was killed have not been released, but his death underscores the horrific losses of high-ranking officers suffered by Russia.
On Thursday, Russia announced it would withdraw its troops from Snake Island, off the coast of the Black Sea, as a “gesture of goodwill”. The ministry said the move showed Russia was not interfering with UN efforts to organize a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.
ISW: Russia’s retreat is not the end of the Black Sea blockade
Russia responded with two missiles at Odessa
–
Snake Island, which Russia occupied on the first day of its invasion, achieved worldwide fame when Ukrainian border guards stationed there rejected a Russian warship’s request to surrender.
Earlier this month Russia lost another senior colonel, Sergei Postnov, who was killed in action. He was part of a military propaganda unit in the Russian National Guard, which reports directly to Vladimir Putin.
He was on active duty with Russian forces near Kyiv, in Kharkiv, and more recently in the Luhansk region.
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Russia has lost about 35,600 people since the invasion began. Colonel Pavel Kislyakov was the 57th known colonel to die in combat, while at least 12 generals are believed to have been killed in Ukraine.
The latest general lost was confirmed this month as Major General Roman Kutuzov, who was killed in an attack on a Ukrainian village in the Donbass region, a reporter for state-run Rossiya 1 television said.
