Russian war lord shot dead in Ukraine in fresh blow to Putin’s stalled invasion

A well-known Russian war lord has been shot dead in Ukraine in another major blow for Vladimir Putin‘s stalled invasion.

A well-known war lord who led Russia’s Sparta Battalion has been shot dead in Ukraine in another major blow for Vladimir Putin's stalled invasion.

Vladimir Zhoga was killed during battle in the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha on Saturday, The Sun reports.

Denis Pushilin, who heads the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Donetsk, confirmed the kill on his Telegram channel. “Today, the commander of the Sparta separate reconnaissance battalion, Guards Col. Vladimir Zhoga (nom de guerre Vokha), died like a hero in Volnovakha,” he wrote.

According to Mr Pushilin, the commander was killed during an operation to evacuate civilians from Volnovakha – one of the cities where Russian troops violated a ceasefire agreement on Saturday. Zhoga joined Russian-backed rebels in 2014 – the same year in which the Sparta Battalion, a neo-Nazi militia that has the support of Moscow, was created.

The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks against Ukrainian troops and has been waging war in the Donbass region since hostilities broke out eight years ago. Its former leader, Arsen Pavlov, known as Motorola, was accused of war crimes in Kyiv and died when he was blown up an explosive device in 2016.

Zhoga's death is another major blow for Mr Putin after he lost two top military chiefs this week and his army fails to make territorial gains as fast as previously expected.

Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was reportedly killed at the battle for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv.

Ukrainian soldiers fought off a Spetsnaz special forces air assault there – and his loss could explain why Russian forces failed to secure the airfield as well as why the assault on Kyiv had stalled.

It was also revealed that Ukrainian snipers also picked off a Kremlin regional and a divisional commander.

Western officials believe Russian top brass are exposing themselves on the frontline to spearhead drained and untrained rank-and-file troops.

One said: “That‘s an indication of some degree of frustration and some degree of lack of progress – and they’re trying to impose their personality on the battlefield and putting themselves at personal risk.”

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The Russian military said Vladimir Zhoga ‘died like a hero’.

Zhoga‘s death is another major blow for Mr Putin after he lost two top military chiefs this week and his army fails to make territorial gains as fast as previously expected.

They said Mr Putin's commanders have been knocked for six and suffered a “psychological impact” by the ”ferocity of the fighting”.

It came as Ukraine today claimed it has now killed 11,000 Russian troops since Mr Putin invaded two weeks ago.

With 11 days having passed since the initial attack, that means that Mr Putin has lost approximate 1000 men every single day.

And Russian air strikes are believed to have killed hundreds – maybe thousands – of civilians across Ukraine.

Video taken of two airmen in the back of a truck shows them being interrogated, with their captors raging: “You are killing our people, you b**tard.”

The pilot pleads he was just “ordered to fly” – and claims he was on a rescue mission.

And another video shows a Russian pilot with blood on his shirt saying he was “not told anything” about his mission.

"Were you blind?" one man rages, with the troops claiming they had maps from his plane showing bombing runs.

Russia has seen its invasion met with staunch resistance and also has been blighted by embarrassing logistic failures and supply problems. And despite having one of the largest air force's in the world, Mr Putin's planes seem incapable of securing air superiority over Ukraine.

Images captured the wreckage of a Russian Sukhoi Su-25 assault aircraft outside the city of Volnovakha.

Ukraine claims to have shot down 44 planes and 48 helicopters – as well as blowing up 285 tanks, 985 armoured cars and 60 fuel tankers.

Yesterday saw one of the most striking videos of the war released as a Russian "Hind" helicopter was blasted out of the sky by a stinger missile.

Investigative journalism group Bellingcat geolocated the footage to Kozarovychi in the Kyiv Oblast – around 25 miles from the capital.

Users on social media suggest the helicopter could be a Mil Mi-24 Hind gunship, which was in use by Soviet forces from 1972 and dubbed the “flying tank”.

It was the beginning of a flurry of losses for the Russians – with reports of five warplanes and choppers being shot down.

Two MI-8 and two MI-35 helicopters are believed to have been downed, along with warplanes including two Su-34s, two Su-25s and one Su-30SM.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission