Putin loses general and SWAT team as 'Hero of Russia' warns of 'horrifying' death toll

dailystar.co.uk:

Vladimir Putin, Russia has lost another general, plus seven elite SWAT fighters from the feared Dzerzhinsky Division during their invasion of Ukraine.The sour news comes after a top Russian airman warned that his country’s forces have suffered losses on a scale that will “horrify” people when the figure - now a closely guarded secret - is revealed.

Captain Alexander Garnaev - a famous military test pilot and recipient of the Kremlin’s highest honour, the Hero of Russia award - denounced the “completely incomprehensible” war before another top general was killed.

Major-General Oleg Mityaev, 47, commander of the army’s feared 150th motorised rifle division, was killed in the storming of Mariupol, say the Ukrainians.A picture of the corpse of the decorated military officer, a father-of-two, was released by Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko.He is the fourth Russian general to die in the war, according to Kyiv.However, in trademark Kremlin style, Moscow has only confirmed the death of one general, and has not commented on the reports about Mityaev.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported the death of another Russian general in his nighttime address but did not name him.A mourning picture was released in Russia showing the photographs of six elite “maroon beret” special forces fighters from the Vityaz Special Purpose Centre of the Dzerzhinsky Division, named after Soviet secret police founder Felix Dzerzhinsky.It was later revealed that a seventh had been slain.Of these men, only four have been named.

Major Viktor Maksimchuk, 44, was commander of a motorised rifle regiment, who also died in fighting near Mariupol.The father and grandfather's funeral is due today in Krasnodar region.Mikhail.