Ukraine says it's killed one of Russia's top generals in Ukraine

• Ukraine said it killed Russian Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev, Russia's 49th Combined Arms Army commander.

• He's said to be the seventh general to have died in battle since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

• US intelligence estimated that at least 7,000 Russian troops have been killed since the war began.

Ukraine said it killed Russian Lt. Gen. Yakov Rezantsev, Russia's 49th Combined Arms Army commander and one of the country's highest-ranking military officials, The Kyiv Independent's Illia Ponomarenko reported.

Ponomarenko confirmed an earlier report of Rezantsev's death that was attributed to one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's aides. But Russia has not confirmed the death, which an aide said occurred in Chornobaivka, a village in southern Ukraine.

Rezantsev is believed to be the seventh general to have died in battle since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and one of the highest-ranking. Another lieutenant general, Andrei Mordvichev, was said to have been killed on Saturday.

The 49th Combined Arms Army is headquartered in the Southern Military District at Rostov-on-Don, and it's been a major component of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Its forces include mountain infantry, motor rifle brigades, surface-to-air missile batteries, and Spetsnaz special forces.

A lieutenant general is a two-star officer in the Russian Ground Forces. US officials have assessed that Russia has needed to send its generals into more forward positions to try to break through the obstacles their forces are encountering, and unlike Western militaries, the Russian military doesn't delegate much responsibility for battlefield decisions to lower-ranking officers.

Russia has faced staggering military losses, with US intelligence estimating that 7,000 troops have been killed in battle since the war began. A Western official said one Russian colonel, a brigade commander, was attacked by his own troops because of their losses on the battlefield, the BBC's Gordon Corera tweeted.

Experts say this rate of casualties is unsustainable.

"You have to keep in mind this is not the Soviet Army of World War II that marched to victory over the bodies of its dead," Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, previously told Insider. "This is a much smaller army, mostly volunteers. It's much more sensitive to casualties."

Read the original article on Business Insider