MANY top Russian generals have been slaughtered since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Ukraine’s bold counteroffensive missile attacks, campaigns and battles have cut down many of Vlad’s most senior commanders.
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Some of Russia’s top commanders have even been moved to the frontline to fill the gaps and oversee on the ground operations.
Just this week Ukraine’s special forces said they had killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov, Moscow’s top admiral in Crimea.
They 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.
Although a picture released by the Russian defence ministry apparently showed him in a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, other top admirals and army chiefs.
But he was not seen speaking, and sat in a chair that looked different to other naval commanders.
The Russian footage left open the possibility that old video of the commander had been superimposed on a meeting chaired by Russian defence minister Sergei Shogun.
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.
Just days later, another of Putin’s senior officers, Vitaly Gerasimov was killed in conflict outside Ukraine’s Kharkiv.
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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.
Russia suffered another heavy blow days later when Ukraine reported the death of Putin’s Major General Andrey Kolesnikov.
By this point, desperate Putin had officially lost 11 military commanders and three high-ranking generals.
Although Russian media has often contradicted death figures given by Ukraine and their allies.
Zelenskyy’s forces soon after said Major General Oleg Mityaev had died in the storming of Mariupol, alongside seven members of an elite Russian SWAT team.
A picture of the corpse of the decorated military officer, a father-of-two, was released by Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.
Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, another top brass who led Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army, also died in the same battle.
By mid-March, a fifth Russian general, Lieutenant-General Andrei Mordvichev died in fighting at Chornobaivka, near the southern city of Kherson.
It was thought the military boss was killed in the Russian-controlled Kherson Airport, which had been hit with Ukranian strikes in the preceding days.
Two of Putin’s top commanders were also slaughtered when Ukrainian forces recaptured Chuhuiv.
Dmitry Safronov and Denis Glebov, who both commanded different brigades in Russia’s Armed Forces, died in the battle.
Commander Konstantin Zizevsky also reportedly died during fighting in Ukraine around the same time, as did Guard Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov.
As the war moved well into it’s second month, Putin’s forces suffered another blow when Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Kornik, 39, Chief of Staff of the 40th Engineer Regiment, was reportedly taken out.
His battalion was struck as they were constructing a pontoon bridge in the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine.
A list of Russia’s lost commanders at the time was hitting 20, as desperate despot Putin’s invasion faltered.
And Ukraine’s bold counteroffensive in claimed the life of Russian Colonel Andrei Zakharov when a column of Russian tanks came under fire near Kyiv.
Despite Putin’s cronies often denying the losses of Russia’s top commanders, state TV in Moscow did confirm the loss of Colonel Sergei Sukharev.
The top paratroop commander was killed on the Ukraine frontline as Russia’s elite fighters faced a massacre on the battlefield.
His deputy Major Sergei Krylov was killed alongside him, they were among a number slain from the “glorious” Kostroma regiment, seen as among Russia’s most elite fighting forces.
GRU military intelligence spy Captain Alexey Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, also died in carnage in Mariupol.
Pictures emerged of father-of-one Glushchak’s funeral in Russia, where he was buried with full military honours and a guard of honour.
While Russia is known to have lost many of their most valuable military leaders in the brutal invasion of Ukraine, even more are reported to have died.
Experts previously said Russian forces have faced a massacre on the battlefield, crushed by Ukrainian defenders.
Even though tyrant Putin was initially expecting to seize Kyiv in 48 hours, Ukrainians have fought tirelessly to defend their country.
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