Deputy Russian army corps commander killed in Ukraine
PHOTO CAPTION: Commander of Russia's Kantemirovskaya Tank Division Vladimir Zavadsky delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the unit's foundation in Naro-Fominsk in the Moscow region, Russia, June 28, 2020. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of Russia's 14th Army Corps, has been killed in Ukraine, a top regional official said on Monday.
The governor of Russia's Voronezh region, Alexander Gusev, said Zavadsky had died "at a combat post in the special operation zone", without giving further details.
"Special military operation" is the term that Russia uses to describe the war in Ukraine, now approaching the end of its second year.
The investigative news outlet iStories said Zavadsky was the seventh Major General whose death had been confirmed by Russia, and the 12 senior officer overall to be reported dead since the start of the war.
Deaths of senior Russian officers, which military analysts have attributed in some cases to Ukrainian success in intercepting lax communications, have become rarer as the war has progressed.
Zavadsky was a much-decorated officer and a former tank commander, said Gusev, adding that his death was a heavy loss that caused "transfixing pain".
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Gareth Jones)
