Russia admits two commanders killed as Ukraine finds success in Bakhmut
Mike Brest
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Two senior Russian military leaders were killed in Ukraine, the country’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.
The commander of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade, Col. Vyacheslav Makarov, and deputy commander of the Army Corps, Col. Yevgeny Brovko, were killed over the weekend in eastern Ukraine.
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Makarov “personally led the battle from the front,” the ministry said in a rare acknowledgment of a service member’s death. “While repulsing of a third attack, the brigade commander was seriously wounded and died during the evacuation from the battlefield.”
The Russian ministry did not specify where the two leaders were killed, though much of the war over the last couple of months has been focused around the eastern city of Bakhmut. Russia has poured troops, including mercenaries, into the battlefield yet has been unable to drive Ukraine from the area; Russia has incurred 100,000 casualties in Bakhmut since December 2022, according to the Biden administration.
Ukrainian forces successfully captured more than 10 Russian positions near Bakhmut, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said in a Telegram post on Sunday, whereas Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine made “mass attempts” to break through Russian defenses in Bakhmut’s north and south but that “no breakthroughs” occurred.
Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces spokesman Col. Serhiy Cherevaty said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 180 miles in some areas, while Maliar explained that Ukrainian forces are advancing in two directions in the suburbs of Bakhmut.
This comes as Ukraine is preparing for its highly anticipated counteroffensive, in which it hopes to liberate towns in Ukraine under Russian occupation. Ukraine has received billions of dollars of military aid and subsequent training on the Western equipment in preparation for the counteroffensive, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said critical supplies have yet to arrive.
He told reporters following his meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the Chequers estate in southeast England on Monday, “We really need some more time. Not too much.”
Ukrainian Defense Intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian television that Russian forces are no longer able “to repeat large-scale offensive actions,” though he explained that the Russians are “capable of sustaining the intensity of attacks” via their drone and missiles stockpiles.
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There were also unconfirmed reports that four Russian aircraft were shot down over their own territory over the weekend; Ukraine has not confirmed its air defenses were involved.
Additionally, Russian leaders claimed to have launched a long-range missile strike on a Ukrainian storage facility in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine far from the front lines of the war where Russian defense officials accused Ukraine of storing ammunition, weapons, and military equipment received from Western allies.