A top Russian colonel has been killed in Ukraine's occupied eastern Luhansk region after Kyiv's forces fired two long-range Storm Shadow missiles in the region, striking military headquarters, according to local media reports.
Colonel Pavel Alexandrovich Kropotov, 45, commander of Russia's 59th Guards Communications Brigade, was killed in Luhansk on April 13, Ukrainian Colonel Anatoly Stefan "Stirlitz" said on his Telegram channel on Friday. Kropotov's unit would be responsible for setting up battlefield communications networks.
The United Kingdom donated the long-range Storm Shadow cruise missiles to Ukraine in May 2023 ahead of its counteroffensive launched last June to try to capture occupied Russian territory. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
More than 200 people gathered to pay their respects for the colonel during a funeral service in Yekaterinburg, Russia, local publication URA.ru reported on Thursday.
"For me and for all the guys, Pavel Alexandrovich was like a father. Modest, kind, humane, always helped in solving any problems," one attendee who worked with Kropotov said.
"Yes, he wasn't talkative, he spoke little, but did a lot," another colleague of the colonel added.
Ukraine carried out a Storm Shadow missile strike on the city of Luhansk on April 13, the day of Kropotov's death, Russia's state-run news agency Tass reported, saying that several explosions were heard in Luhansk's outskirts.
Two Storm Shadow missiles were launched by Ukraine, a representative of local Russian-installed security forces told the publication. It said several residential buildings were damaged and windows were broken.
Kropotov studied at at the Tomsk Higher Military Command School of Communications, and then at the Novocherkassk School of Communications.
After graduating, he served in Russia's Far East, where he rose from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. He then served in the 106th brigade in Yurga in Russia's Kemerovo region, local media reported.
He also served in Syria between 2015 and 2016 and transferred to a military unit near Yekaterinburg upon his return.
The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, which posts estimates of Russia's troop and equipment losses, said in an update on Friday that Moscow lost 870 soldiers over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 457,830 during the war.
Neither Ukraine nor Russia releases detailed or regular casualty numbers. Newsweek has not independently verified these figures and has reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for comment.
Estimates of casualty numbers vary, with Ukraine's figures usually exceeding those of its Western allies. Moscow rarely shares information on the number of casualties it has sustained in the war. In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 troops had been killed since the war began.
Kyiv, like Moscow, does not provide updated information on its war casualties. A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment leaked in April 2023 said that Ukraine had suffered 124,500 to 131,000 casualties, including 15,500 to 17,500 dead.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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