Vladimir Putin’s top military commander was 'wounded and flown out of the war zone', it has been claimed.
The Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov had been sent by Putin to take personal control of his push to grab territory in Donbas and eastern Ukraine.
The unconfirmed, reports claim is that Gerasimov, 66, was wounded in Izyum in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, which is at the centre of intense fighting.
It is the same location Russia ’s ninth general Maj-Gen Andrei Simonov, 55, was killed, according to earlier reports today.
An unofficial and unconfirmed Russian source reported that Gerasimov sustained “a shrapnel wound in the upper third of the right leg without a bone fracture.
“The shard was removed - there is no danger to life.”
Ukrainian government official Anton Gerashchenko claimed the attack on Izyum was “the very place where…Gerasimov, who personally came to lead the attack on Slavyansk, was located”.
A “large number” of senior officers were killed, he said.
Pro-Ukr Telegram channel Vertikal suggested Gerasimov had been “wounded near Izyum”.
“Our source reports that his legs and hips are damaged.”
It claimed three of his entourage had been killed and the chief of the general staff was evacuated.
Agentstvo media outlet reported that he was flown out of the war zone initially by an Mi-8 military helicopter to Belgorod in western Russia.
Separately, a military site in Belgorod region was seen on fire in videos, caused by a suspected Ukrainian attack.
Three Ka-52 attack helicopters circled as the Mi-8 transported him and other top brass.
Then in Belgorod he boarded a Defence Ministry Tu-154 plane which flew to an unknown destination.
Founder of independent Conflict Intelligence Team Ruslan Leviev said an eyewitness at the airport had seen Gerasimov board the plane unaided.
"The source confirms that it was Gerasimov who flew away,” he posted.
“But he went on board himself, alive and well."
If true, his wounding even if minor by the Ukrainians is another deep psychological blow to Putin and his faltering war campaign.
Gerasimov is in charge of the Russian war campaign alongside defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
