Russian colonel killed in HIMARS strike in Ukraine
Totikov and another soldier, the head of the automobile service of guards military unit No. 74268, captain Oleg Lebedev, were reportedly buried in Russia’s city of Ryazan on Sept. 25.
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According to Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, the Russian army colonel was killed in a HIMARS MLRS strike on the headquarters of the Russian invaders in the town of Izyum in Kharkiv Oblast, just ahead of the counter-offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Balakliya.
“It was the headquarters of the 35th combined army that was responsible for commanding the troops in this area – the breakthrough occurred in their area,” the journalist said in a Telegram messenger post on Sept. 26.
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“And now, as we can see, there are reasons to say that the Russian command suffered significant losses in this area. The chief of missile troops and artillery is one of the key elements in modern warfare. Now it is clear that the defeat of the Russians was largely connected with the loss of control and the accurate determination by Ukrainian intelligence of the location of Russian headquarters and their precise defeat.”
According to the latest data, Russian military losses have exceeded 57,000 people since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Against this background, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin early on Sept. 21 declared a partial mobilization in Russia and his readiness to use nuclear weapons in the event of a “threat to the territorial integrity” of Russia.
Later Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that 300,000 reservists would be called up during the partial mobilization. He estimated Russia’s mobilization resource at almost 25 million people.
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After the announcement, Russians began to buy tickets abroad en masse to avoid participation in their country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Read also: FSB sends armored vehicles to checkpoint where Russians are trying to flee to Georgia
In turn, the Kremlin’s puppet in Chechnya, warlord Ramzan Kadyrov, said that he was not going to mobilize locals as the republic had already “surpassed the target” for raising troops for the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
