Ukraine: Russian official confirms general's death in action

A Russian local official has confirmed the death in action in Ukraine of Maj Gen Vladimir Zavadsky, reported by pro-Kremlin sources last week.

Voronezh Governor Alexander Gusev said Maj Gen Zavadsky, 45, died "in the line of duty" but gave no further details.

On Wednesday it was reported that he had been blown up on a mine but there were conflicting reports about where this happened.

He is the seventh Russian general known to have died in the Ukraine conflict.

Maj Gen Zavadsky was deputy commander of the 14th army corps of the Northern Fleet at the time of his death.

In a telegram post, Mr Gusev said his death was a "heavy loss" and a "piercing pain".

"Wherever the motherland sent him, he gave an example of dedication to duty, to which his many awards bear witness," he said.

There has been no word from the Russian Defence Ministry about the incident.

The ministry has on several occasions previously made no mention of senior officers' deaths, even after close relatives have spoken publicly about them.

It is not clear where the incident took place, but it is thought Maj Gen Zavadsky's unit was in Kherson region at the time.

Before his current posting, he was commander of the elite Kantemirovsky tank division based outside Moscow.

The division was so-called because it liberated the village of Kantemirovka, in Voronezh region, from the Nazis in 1942 in its first ever deployment.

This strong connection between the division and the region could explain why Mr Gusev was the first Russian official to confirm Maj Gen Zavadsky's death.

At least six other Russian generals are thought to have died since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Four are confirmed to have died in the first four months of the war, and another two in the summer of this year.

Most recently Lt Gen Oleg Tsokov was killed in a strike on a hotel housing Russian military commanders in Berdyansk, on Ukraine's occupied southern coast.

Ukrainian sources have reported another seven deaths of Russian generals, but at least three of them have since been proven to be still alive.

Meanwhile as Ukraine faces Russian attacks over the winter on its infrastructure, US national security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that Washington was helping Kyiv strengthen its resilience with "defensive protection equipment".

But there was much gloomier news for Kyiv from the US on Monday.

White House budget chief Shalanda Young wrote to the speaker of the US House of Representatives that the chamber's failure to agree new funds for Ukraine by the end of the year could "kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield".

She said it was in America's national interest to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression, and that the spending had helped revitalise America's defence industry.

Some hard-line Republican politicians have been blocking a multi-billion-dollar package of further aid to Ukraine.