Western officials named as many as seven Russian generals who are been killed so far, and another who had been sacked, during the war in Ukraine.

According to AFP, the latest to die, Lieutenant General Yakov Rezanstev, was a commander of Russia’s 49th Combined Arms Army in its southern military district.

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Earlier, Russian Army Commander General Vlaislav Yershov, of the 6th Combined Arms Army, was identified as the general sacked by the Kremlin.

It is reported that his abrupt dismissal was due to the heavy losses and strategic failures seen during the Russian military’s month-long invasion of its neighbour.

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Among the others said to have been killed is General Magomed Tushaev, of the Chechen Special Forces deployed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

The number of both rank-and-file Russian troops and senior officers allegedly killed in the month-long war has shocked Western military and security officials.

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It has been blamed in part on communications and logistics issues, leading senior officers to use unencrypted channels which has exposed them to Ukrainian forces.

On Friday, the Kremlin claimed that just over 1,300 military personnel have died in the war, but estimates of four or five times that number are seen as credible in Western capitals.

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Officials there believe around 20 of the 115-120 battalion tactical groups deployed by Moscow in Ukraine are “no longer combat effective” due to the losses sustained.

He also claimed the commander of Russia’s 37th Motor Rifle Brigade had been killed by his own troops, “as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade”.