Another senior Russian commander has reportedly been killed in the latest blow for Vladmir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
Captain Alexander Chirva died from wounds sustained in a battle with Ukrainian defenders, according to the governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev.
Chirva was the commander of Caesar Kunikov, a landing ship in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Mr Razvozhayev told Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency: “Today we said goodby to Alexander Grigorievich Chirva.
“His courage, professionalism and experience saved the lives of the crew members.”
It has not been confirmed when he died, but reports suggest that it could have happened following Ukrainian strikes on the ship in March.
Chirva, a third rank captain, was from a naval family, married and had a son.
His father was a Black Sea fleet commander, and his brother is a Lieutenant-Colonel in Russia’s land forces.
In 2015 and 2016, he participated in Russia’s military operations in Syria.
His death is yet another blow to Moscow , which also lost the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain 1st Rank Andrei Paliy, 51.
He was killed in battles for the beseiged port city Mariupol.
Russia faced a further setback in April when the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, sunk after it was reportedly hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles.
Although the Kremlin has acknowledged the loss of the vessel, it continues to claim the ship was destroyed by an on-board explosion rather than by enemy weapons.
Russia has not released any information about crew that may have been killed in the sinking, nor about survivors.
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