Russian Lt. General Oleg Tsokov Killed in Ukraine—Reports

A top Russian general has been killed in the war in Ukraine, according to an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol.

Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov was reportedly killed near the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Petr Andryushchenko wrote on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, posted news of Tsokov's death on Twitter.

At the end of September 2022, the Ukrainian military said Tsokov was wounded in a Ukrainian attack at his HQ near Svatove, in the partially occupied Luhansk region. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Facebook at the time that Tsokov had been injured as Russia continued to suffer losses, "in particular among the leadership."

Tsokov had been commander of the 144th Motorized Rifle Division since August 2022. He received the rank of lieutenant general earlier this year.

News of Tsokov's death comes a month into Kyiv's long-anticipated counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has acknowledged that his forces are advancing slowly as they attempt to recapture territory seized by Russia in the 16-month-old war.

Russian authorities have yet to comment on reports of Tsokov's death.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Russia has lost a number high-ranking officers and generals in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022.

According to independent Russian-language news outlet Mediazona, as of June 2, at least four Russian generals, 58 colonels and 176 lieutenant colonels had been since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched. That figure included Major General Kanamat Botashev, Major General Vladimir Frolov, Major General Roman Kutuzov and Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky.

In June, Yuri Kotenok, a Russian war correspondent, blogger and analyst who runs the Telegram channel Voenkor Kotenok Z, reported that Major General Sergei Goryachev, 52, chief of staff for the 35th Combined Arms Army, was also killed "as a result of an enemy missile attack" in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region.

Pavel Luzin, a Russian political analyst and visiting scholar at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, previously told Newsweek that casualties sustained in the war have damaged the "organizational integrity" of the Russian Armed Forces.

"Russia lost a generation of officers, especially if we speak about bottom-level officers like lieutenants and captains," Luzin added. "The most professional units have been lost already, and most of them [were] lost in the first six months of the war."

Update 07/11/23, 6:50 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with an amended headline and additional information.

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