The Western official believes this is down to the commanders having to get ‘closer to the front’ as Russia feels progress still has not been made in Ukraine.

“Once again, Russia has suffered another huge blow as two top commanders have been killed on the frontline in Ukraine after a general was shot dead by snipers. 

According to Western officials, Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky was reportedly killed by a Ukrainian sniper while the latest deaths since Russia invaded last week were also both senior officers. 

One was a divisional commander and the other was a regimental commander, the Telegraph has reported. 

The Western official believes this is down to the commanders having to get ‘closer to the front’ as Russia feels progress still has not been made in Ukraine. 

“The reason why that’s happening is that commanders feel they have to move further forward to get greater impetus and control over operations. 

“That’s an indication perhaps of some degree of frustration, some degree of lack of progress and they’re trying to impose their personality onto the battlefield and then putting themselves at personal risk,” the official said.

Sukhovetsky, who was the deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of Russia’s Central Military District, died on Wednesday as Ukrainian defence forces repelled the Russian offensive. 

His death, announced on social media by his colleague Sergey Chipilyov, was widely reported by several Russian and Ukrainian news outlets and a military source confirmed that he was killed ‘by a sniper’.  

Kyiv says Russia has now lost around 9,200 men in the fighting, along with hundreds of tanks, almost a thousand armored vehicles, and dozens of helicopters and jets. 

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