Russian media and Telegram channels reported the death of General Pavel Klimenko, commander of the motorized rifle brigade. Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic. Klimenko was suspected of organizing torture against his own soldiers. The circumstances of his death are unknown, Radio Swoboda reported.
Pro-war Telegram channels and bloggers were the first to report the death of 47-year-old Klimenko. The independent Russian website Vazhnye Istorii confirmed these reports, finding entries from the military's family about his death posted on social networking sites.
According to Russian media, Paweł Klimenko commanded the 5th Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade. Alexander Zakharchenko, the self-proclaimed leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. The general was suspected of organizing torture against his own soldiers.
Reports about the general's death on Telegram of the Vazhnye Istorii portal Important Istorii/Telegram
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Camp in the mine area
According to the Astra Telegram channel, Klimenko allegedly organized a camp where Russian soldiers were tortured on the site of the abandoned Petrovskaya mine in Donetsk. Commanders here were to take money from their subordinates and force them to participate in “meat attacks”.
Klimenko became the thirteenth general to be killed since the Russian military invasion began Ukraine in February 2022. The first one was Andrei Sukhovetskiy, deputy commander of the 41st Army of the Central Military District of Russia – recalled the independent Russian-language portal The Moscow Times. Sukhovtsky died in early March 2022, shot by a Ukrainian sniper in the Chernihiv Oblast, The Moscow Times reported.
According to estimates by journalists from the BBC's Russian section and the independent website Mediazona, the Russian army lost at least 136 colonels and 321 lieutenant colonels on the Ukrainian front. By October 11 this year, the BBC and Medizona, citing open sources, confirmed the death of over 4.2 thousand Russian army officers.
Kiev estimates
According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the losses of the Russian army since the beginning of aggression have exceeded 700,000 soldiers. The staff does not specify how many enemy soldiers were killed and how many were wounded. The Ukrainian staff's reports also do not include information on how many Russian officers or other senior military officers were killed.
Radio Swoboda, Vazhnye Istorii, tvn24.pl