A top Russian brigade commander has been run over by a tank and killed by his own mutinous troops after they learned of Russia’s huge losses in Ukraine, according to reports.
Western officials believe Colonel Yuri Medvedev was brutally executed by Russian soldiers after his 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered a staggering number of losses during its invasion of Ukraine under his leadership.
Video of the killing also reportedly confirmed that Medvedev was killed by his own troops.
“A Russian brigade commander has been killed deliberately by his own troops after his unit suffered many losses in Ukraine,” Sky News reporter Deborah Haynes reported.
“Colonel Medvechek, commander of 37 Motor Rifle Brigade, was run over by his soldiers.”
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“The brigade commander of one of the units was killed by his own troops…we believe, as a consequence of the scale of loss that had been taken by his brigade,” a Western official reportedly told Haynes.
“That just gives an insight into perhaps some of the morale challenges that Russian forces are having.”
“We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,” the official reportedly added.
“Indeed we believe he was run over by his own troops and I believe he was the commander of the 37 Motor Rifle Brigade.”
A lieutenant general commanding the 49th Combined Arms Army has also died in the fighting – the seventh to perish in the war.
Reuters, using claims from Ukrainian officials, reported that up to six Russian generals had been killed during the war along with dozens of colonels and other officers.
News of Colonel Medvedev’s fate – backed by recent footage of the extraordinary episode – came amid claims that 20 of the 120 battalions massed by Vladimir Putin have been rendered inoperative by Ukraine’s staunch resistance.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) revealed this week that it believes that the Russian military has suffered up to 40,000 casualties during its invasion of Ukraine, which began one month ago.
The figure — which includes troops that have been killed, wounded, taken prisoner, or are missing in action — was calculated using figures provided by Ukraine, information obtained from Russia, and intelligence from open sources.
The senior NATO official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the organization believes between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, and that the 30,000 to 40,000 estimated casualties are “based on the assumption that for every soldier killed, three are wounded,” The Washington Post reported.
“Death tolls have been hard for independent observers to verify during the conflict, with the fog of war-making solid information difficult to obtain and the ferocity of the conflict impeding efforts to count the dead. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 1,300 members of the Ukrainian forces have been killed, but The Washington Post has been unable to verify that figure.
“Russia has not updated its official figure of 498 dead and 1,597 wounded since announcing it one week into the invasion.”
