Ukraine claims its forces “seriously wounded” a high-profile Russian figure as part of a special forces mission into border city Belgorod.
Vladimir Putin’s forces sustained heavy losses in the Russian city as Ukraine bombarded the city, Ukraine’s military chief has claimed.
Hundreds of Russians have been evacuated from Belgorod after a reported barrage of shelling from the Ukrainian army in recent days.
Kyiv spymaster Kyrylo Budanov said: “Not disclosing details, I can say that one of the very seriously wounded [in Russia’s Belgorod region] was quite a significant personality.
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“They immediately requested a helicopter to evacuate him directly to Moscow,” he added.
Budanov, 38, didn’t reveal any specific information about the wounded Russian’s identity.
He also said he could not corroborate earlier claims on social media that Putin’s war commander General Valery Gerasimov, 68, had been killed in a recent missile strike on Sevastopol, Crimea.
Ukraine’s military struck a command post there, but there is no evidence Gerasimov, who is also the Kremlin’s deputy defence minister, was killed in the blast.
On Friday, Ukrainian sources cited by the Crimean Wind Telegram channel claimed a total of 15 Russian military personnel were wiped out in the strike.
Asked about the report suggesting Gerasimov perished in the attack, Budanov replied: “Let’s just say that I have no information to support this.”
Russia is yet to comment on the Gerasimov claims that spread widely on Friday.
Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for a unit of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, said reports that Gerasimov was among those killed in Sevastopol strike were likely to be wide of the mark.
“There are many versions of who could have been hit there,” he said.
“I even heard the famous surname Gerasimov.
“This would be good news, but I think that it is unlikely to be the reality.
“But the fact that several high-ranking officers or generals of the Russian occupation army were hit in this command post is real.”
