Ukraine has now claimed to have killed Russian commander Serhiy Sukharev, who served as the commander of the 331st Kostroma Airborne Regiment.
The regiment’s commander, Colonel Sergey Sukharev, was also confirmed as killed during the fierce battle that raged near Kyiv on March 17, according to local reports. Reports claim that the Russian 331st Guards Airborne Regiment was destroyed after coming under fire from Ukrainian forces. The regiment is part of the 98th Guard Airborne Division and had around 2000 soldiers along with over 200 armoured fighting vehicles.
In the latest blow to Putin’s Ukraine invasion, Kyiv has now claimed to have killed Russian commander Serhiy Sukharev. Ukraine has claimed that the Armed Forces took down Sukharev, who served as the commander of the 331st Kostroma Airborne Regiment. This comes from the background of reports claiming that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has slowed down on all fronts.
It is known that Sukharev’s regiment had fought against Ukraine outside the city Ilovaisk in Donbas back in 2014 and took part in both Chechen wars and the Russian-Georgian war of 2008, noted Ukraine’s Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security.
The death of Colonel Sergei Sukharev was confirmed by russia’s state TV in Moscow. However, the circumstances of his death were not disclosed by the Russian media. It’s indicates, that Kremlin neglets its military personnel in a “military operation”, supposedly fought to protect Russia from Ukraine.
According to reports, Sukharev in 2014 commanded the BTGr 331st Regiment, which shot columns of Ukrainian soldiers near Ilovaisk. Ukraine’s claims come amid reports suggesting that the defending troops also killed a senior general of the Russian forces earlier in the day.
These reports on the takedown of senior officials back claims that the Russian troops have been significantly slowed down in their offence. Reports have also claimed that the movement of attacking troops has been stagnant in areas including the outskirts of Kyiv. The report also backs Kyiv’s claims that it managed to inflict heavy losses on the Russian side, forcing Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to reconsider the offence.
Only one severely wounded Russian soldier is believed to have survived the battle and is being cared for by Ukrainian medics.
In addition, Ukrainian forces took up to 100 prisoners of war over the last few days of intense fighting.
Mykola Vorobiov, a research fellow at Johns Hopkins university, wrote: “Last night Russian troops were thrown back 60-70km from the capital Kyiv.
“Most of the Russian units suffered enormously high casualties they never had since WWII.
“331 airborne brigade has only one serviceman left.”
OSINTdefender also tweeted: “The Russian 331st Guards Airborne Regiment of the 98th Guard Airborne Division is Claimed to have been almost Completely wiped out by Ukrainian Forces near the Capital of Kyiv.
“The only Survivors of the Battle are reported to be 1 Severely Wounded Airborne Soldier who is Currently under Ukrainian Medical Care as well as up to 100 Russian Airborne POWs that has been Captured over the last few days during the Fighting.”
The 331st Guards Airborne Regiment is considered one of Russia’s elite units.
The regiment fought in both Chechen wars and some of its members were directly involved in the Donbas conflict in 2014 to 2015.
Video footage posted by the twitter account Liveuamap appears to show the aftermath of the battle.
Harrowing images depict destroyed armoured fighting vehicles and trucks scattered over the battle field, along with twisted metal shards.
The 331st is based in the Russian town of Kotroma and was led by Colonel Sergey Sukharev.
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