Putin loses two of Russia's top commanders killed by Ukrainian troops in battle for Bakhmut
15 May 2023, 06:08 | Updated: 15 May 2023, 08:12
Russia has confirmed that two of its top commanders were killed on Sunday as fighting rages on in the east of Ukraine.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed that Commander Vyacheslav Makarov of the 4th Motorized Rifle Brigade and Deputy Commander Yevgeny Brovko were killed.
Makarov died while leading Russian troops on the frontline, Russia's MoD said, while Brovko "died heroically, suffering multiple shrapnel wounds".
Elsewhere, a huge fireball erupted over a Ukrainian city after an attack on an ammunition chamber.
Russia is believed to have sent 21 drones to Khmelnytskyi as part of the attack, with 17 shot down. Four found their target.
Officials said 30 people were injured, but "miraculously" only two needed hospital treatment.
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Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces made significant advances with counter attacks on Russian positions near Bakhmut.
Ukraine’s military chiefs say their forces have advanced 1.2 miles in a week, taking back territory captured by Russian invaders.
Russia has officially denied reports that Ukraine has gained ground, but the chief of the Russian Wagner mercenary group said the “situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario.”
The Battle of Bakhmut pic.twitter.com/Ru7bxykNSX
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) May 12, 2023
Yevgeny Prigozenhin accused regular Russian army troops of abandoning their positions.
He said: "Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those [Russian army soldiers] who are supposed to hold our flanks."
