Russia's Chief of General Staff visits troops battling Ukrainians on frontline

The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, on Saturday, visited the troops involved in the country’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine. In a statement, the Russian Defence Ministry said that General Valery Gerasimov inspected divisions of the involved troops and also released several photographs showing the military leader being briefed at work. It is pertinent to note here, that his visit hasn’t been verified as yet. Last week, the ministry issued a similar statement for Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as well. 

In their latest series of attacks, Putin's forces shelled the eastern city of Lysychansk. The Siverskyi Donets River river separates Lysychansk from Sievierodonetsk-- a city that, last week, fell to the Russians. Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, on Saturday, said Russian forces had managed for the first time to cross the river from the north, creating a “threatening” situation. He added that the fate of the city would be decided as early as Monday. 

Earlier in May, it was reported by Ukrainian state media that Gerasimov had visited several posts in Ukraine which were now occupied by Russian soldiers. Citing Russian military officials, the report claimed that the Ukrainian soldiers learned about the visit and added they failed to react on time. "The Ukrainian side learned about the visit but did not have time to catch Gerasimov. When the Ukrainian forces opened fire on one of the positions visited by Gerasimov at the G12 school in the Russian-controlled city of Izyum on Saturday night, the general had already returned to Russia," Ukrinform quoted a Russian official as saying. 

7 top Russian army officials killed in Ukraine war

Though the Russian forces have been unrelenting in their pursuit to invade Ukraine by unleashing extreme military aggression, Putin's forces have been facing immense casualties on their end as several top military officials were killed in recent days amid the ongoing war. As per media reports, Russian general Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev was killed in the ongoing "military operation" earlier last month. As per the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, Rezantsev was the highest-ranked officer to be killed since the beginning of the war. 

(Image: AP)