Rumors are circulating on social media that Russia’s top general, chief of defense Valeriy Gerasimov, was killed in an attack on the annexed Crimean peninsula on Thursday.
Now the Russian authorities are commenting on the allegations about the defense chief.
The Russian governor of the city of Belgorod claims that two children were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a residential area, writes the news agency Reuters on Saturday 30 December. Reporter: Marte Nyløkken Helseth / Dagbladet TV. view more
Ukrainian attack
Several users on Twitter / X and Telegram, among others, have begun to question the whereabouts of Russian General Valeriy Gerasimov, after Ukraine claimed they had hit a military command post near Sevastopol on Thursday afternoon.
THIRD MECHANICAL: Valeriy Gerasimov is the third most powerful in Russia’s defense, after Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Photo: Sputnik / AP / NTB Show more
– Today at around 3 p.m., Ukraine’s armed forces attacked a command post belonging to the Russian occupation force near Sevastopol, the Ukrainian military said in a statement on Thursday.
The attacks took place on the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia and President Putin in 2014.
The unconfirmed rumors of Gerasimov’s death seem to have started circulating after a user named “WarVehicleTracker” shared a photo on Twitter / X.
LOYAL: Gerasimov is referred to by some as one of the architects behind Russia’s hybrid war – the so-called “Gerasimov doctrine”. Photo: Sputnik / Reuters Show more
The image purports to show a message published by a Russian Telegram channel called “Ordinary Tsarism”. The message can no longer be found on Telegram.
The claim was also shared on the Polish-funded and disputed account Visegrad24 on X, who has nearly 900,000 followers.
– A big warning to the West
“According to preliminary data, Valeriy Gerasimov, who was at a command post near Sevastopol at the time of the attack, was killed in the attack in Crimea,” the message says.
The website says so Newsweek.
Denies the rumours
The rumors have also reached one of Russia’s largest newspapers, Kommersantwhich discusses the rumors on Friday.
They write that the information is referred to as false, and refer to the group’s Telegram channel “War on Fakes». According to Kommersant, the channel is believed to be closely associated with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
– The creators of this latest fiction could not show any evidence. No photos or video are attached to the post, says the message on the group’s Telegram channel.
War on Fakes is referred to as one of the Russia’s largest propaganda channels and was created on the same day as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia further says that its air defense shot down ten enemy missiles over the peninsula on Thursday evening, thereby averting what it calls a “terrorist attack” by Ukrainian forces.
– One person was injured after rocket parts fell on a house, says the Russian-appointed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozjajev.
According to the Russian authorities, this person should not be Gerasimov.
The Russian governor of the city of Belgorod claims that two children were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a residential area, writes the news agency Reuters on Saturday 30 December. Reporter: Marte Nyløkken Helseth / Dagbladet TV. view more
Not seen in public
Gerasimov has reportedly not been seen since December 29, when footage shows him handing out awards to “military personnel who distinguished themselves during the liberation of Marinka” in the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine.
That’s what the newspaper writes Daily Mail.
There has been no verifiable information that Gerasimov has actually died in the Ukrainian attack, despite the flood of rumors on social media.
2024-01-05 18:06:36
#Claimed #killed #Russia #responds
