Russian Commanders Killed In Ukraine As Military Campaign Falters, Says Western Official
Senior Russian commanders have been killed in Ukraine after they felt the need to move to the frontline in order to gain control of operations, a Western official has said.
Western officials also believe it is “madness” that the Russian army is pursuing a strategy of repeating battlefield failures.
The Russian column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles approaching Kyiv is now essentially a huge traffic jam and has not made progress for a number of days, the official said on Friday.
At least three senior Russian commanders are believed to have been killed, one by sniper fire.
“It is surprising that those have been killed but not surprising that they’ve had the need to go further forward in order to bring some order and intervene in the Russian attack because it has stalled in some areas so badly,” the official said.
“I’m unsurprised that Russian commanders have felt the need to go forward to impose their personality in order to bring some impetus to operations.”
The official added: “Russian doctrine has an approach where what you do is you re-enforce success and you move on and isolate when you have failed.
“They have continued to re-enforce failure. Hammering away at the same objective, perhaps defined as madness.”
The official said Ukrainian resistance had been “remarkable”, adding it had “surprised and in some ways shocked the Russian commanders” and had a “psychological impact on the Russian troops”.
It comes after Russian forces shelled a nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine, with the attack continuing even as emergency services tried to put out the resulting fire.
Downing Street said the targeting of the nuclear plant could “directly threaten the safety of all of Europe”.
The British government has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council in light of the attack.
Separately, speaking after a meeting with other European defence ministers, defence secretary Ben Wallace said Russia’s invasion was “an attack on our freedoms, our values and the security of Europe”.