Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a hotel in Berdiansk (Moscow-occupied territory) that housed several Russian military officials, several war bloggers and Russian media reported on Wednesday. He will be the 11th Russian general to die since the invasion of Ukraine, although the Kremlin has officially confirmed only six deaths. The other five are claimed by Ukrainians.
According to reports, Tsokov was said to be at the Duna Hotel, which was said to have been “destroyed” in an attack with a British-supplied Storm Shadow missile. This is despite the fact that the place that allegedly served as a shelter for military leaders in the occupied city was close to the anti-aircraft defenses. In September, Tsokov (who was the deputy commander of the Southern Military District) was reportedly already seriously wounded in the leg in another attack in Svatove, Lugansk region, and was subsequently withdrawn to St. Petersburg.
The last Russian general to die was Sergey Goryachev, in another missile attack on June 12, already in the middle of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, also in the Zaporizhia region. The others will have died in the first months after the invasion on February 24, 2022, most of them in March and April.
Another general who has been out of the spotlight since the Wagner Group mutiny is Sergei Surovikin, deputy commander of military operations in Ukraine. He is not dead but “rest”. Deputy Andrei Kartapolov, head of the Duma Defense Committee, said it in a video posted on social media: “Surovikin is currently resting. He is not available for now.”
Dubbed “General Armageddon” due to his aggressiveness in the conflict in Syria, Surovikin was last seen in public calling for an end to the uprising by the mercenaries of the Wagner Group while it was still ongoing . The general, unlike other Russian military leaders, was regularly praised by the leader of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, and was therefore seen as close to the mercenaries.
Guterres and the cereal
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday proposing to extend the grain deal, which expires on 17 this month. In return, Guterres proposes to link a subsidiary of the Agricultural Bank of Russia to the international payment system SWIFT. “The aim is to remove the obstacles that affect financial transactions, a major concern of the Russian Federation, while enabling the continuous flow of Ukrainian grains through the Black Sea,” spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
“Vulnerable people around the world, who will lose a lot from the breach of the agreements and a likely subsequent rise in global food and fertilizer prices, remain their main concern. The Secretary-General continues to discuss this issue with all relevant parties and expresses his willingness to further develop his proposal,” concludes Dujarric.
Source: DN
