Russian Colonel run over with tank ‘and killed’ by his own soldiers in Ukraine
Russian Colonel has been run over and killed by his own soldiers because of the huge death toll being suffered by their own brigade in Ukraine, Western officials said on Friday.
The officials identified the commander as Colonel Medvechek of the 37th Motor Rifle Brigade, adding that the incident illustrated the “morale challenges Russian forces are facing.”
Nato officials reportedly estimate that as many as 15,000 Russian troops may have been killed since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine a month ago. Nato is also reported to estimate that in total 40,000 Russian troops have been killed, injured, captured or gone missing.
The Western officials said they believed Col Medvechek was “killed by his own troops deliberately”…as a “consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade”. They added: “Indeed we believe he was run over by his own troops.
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“When we think about the operations it’s important we don’t just count weapons systems and tanks but we think about the moral and conceptual elements of fighting power.”
They added it was their understanding that the commander had been run over by a tank.
However, there were reports on Friday night that the commander had survived and had been taken to hospital in Belarus for treatment.
Earlier on Friday further, details emerged of a seventh Russian General believed to be killed in action.
Lieutenant General Yakov Rezantsev, 48, was killed in a strike by the Ukrainian armed forces, they say. He was Commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District.
The Russian side has not so far confirmed the death but Western officials said on Friday they believed Lt Gen Rezantsev had been killed.
With Russia’s forces now throwing their “maximum” effort into the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, the Western officials estimated around 20 of the 120-150 Russian battalion groups which were available at the start of the assault, were no longer “combat effective”.