Who Was Vitaly Gerasimov? Second Russian Army General Killed In Ukraine

According to Ukrainian intelligence, a Russian general was killed in battle near Kharkiv, making him the Russian army’s second casualty in Ukraine in a week.

Maj Gen Vitaly Gerasimov, chief of staff of the 41st Army, and other senior officers were killed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to the Ukrainian defence ministry’s intelligence arm.

The ministry then aired what it claimed was a conversation between two Russian FSB operatives discussing the death and lamenting that their secret communications within Ukraine were no longer operational.

Bellingcat, an investigative journalism firm, said it had confirmed Gerasimov’s death with a Russian source. Christo Grozev, its executive director, stated that they had also identified the top FSB officer in the intercepted conversation.

Gerasimov received honors for his participation in the second Chechen war, the Russian military intervention in Syria, and the annexation of Crimea.

If confirmed, Gerasimov would be the second Russian general from the 41st Army to die in Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in less than a week. Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, its deputy commander, was announced as dead by Russian media in early March.