ARussian special forces commander was killed in Ukraine, according to reports, as Moscow’s army continues to rack up high personnel losses since its full-scale invasion.
Eastern European news outlet Nexta posted on Telegram on Thursday that Alexey Ivanov, a commander with the “Peresvet” special forces (Spetsnaz) detachment, “was eliminated by aerial reconnaissance of the 30th mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
The X account Russian Officers Killed in Ukraine (KIU), which tracks high-level losses via public notices, obituaries and news reports, said he was “was eliminated in Ukraine by a grenade dropped from a drone.”
Neither post gave a date or location of the incident, but KIU linked to a tribute written on March 1 on the Russian social media site VKontakte by Yaroslav Yaroslavtsev, who described how he fought alongside him.
Yaroslavtsev, whose handle describes himself as an authorized representative of Russian nationalist politician Sergey Baburin, wrote: “Sad news. While performing a combat mission, the commander of the 1st company of the sabotage and reconnaissance detachment with the call sign ‘Fagot’ died.
“I knew Fagot as a competent and experienced officer,” the post said. “I remember one incident from a conversation with him—while on the line of combat, he received a shrapnel wound. When asked why he did not evacuate from his positions, he answered me, ‘how can I leave my guys here?’
“This is the kind of officer and commander he was,” the post ended. “Sleep well, brother.”
Kislovodsk Medical College, in the Stavropol region, said Ivanov had worked there and served with Russia’s armed forces until 2011, where he reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was awarded the Order of Courage.
After volunteering to fight in Ukraine in 2022, he “courageously stood up for the defense of the Motherland and died in the line of military duty as a true patriot of his country,” a tribute on the college’s website said.
Russia has lost a lot of officers over the course of its full-scale invasion with KIU’s latest tally standing at 3,667. Among them is one lieutenant general, six major generals, 89 colonels, 218 lieutenant colonels and 618 captains.
Russian forces have also lost over 1,000 senior lieutenants, according to the X account, as of March 1.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s latest tally of Russian casualties stood at 421,430 as of Thursday, with 1,160 losses recorded over the previous day. Kyiv’s figure includes both the dead and injured.
Newsweek contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
