Ground Report | New Delhi: Who was Vladimir Zhoga; A leader of a rebel military group in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), accused of brutal war crimes and shooting Ukrainian prisoners of war since its formation in 2014, has been shot dead in battle.
Russian warlord Vladimir Zhoga, who led the neo-Na%i ‘Sparta Battalion’, was assassinated in Volnovakha, Ukraine, after the 11th day of the Russian invasion when Putin’s troops achieved no major victories.
Vladimir Zhoga was killed during the battle in the eastern Ukrainian city of Volnovakha on Saturday, The Sun reports. Denis Pushilin, who heads the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Donetsk, confirmed his murder on his Telegram channel. “Today, the commander of the Spartan separate reconnaissance battalion, Guard Colonel Vladimir Zhoga (nom de guerre Vokha), died a hero in Volnovakha,” he wrote.
According to Pushilin, the commander was killed during an operation to evacuate civilians from Volnovakha, one of the towns where Russian troops violated a ceasefire agreement on Saturday. Zhoga joined the Russian-backed rebels in 2014, the same year the Sparta Battalion, a neo-Na%i militia backed by Moscow, was created.
The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks on Ukrainian troops and has been waging war in the Donbass region since hostilities broke out eight years ago. Its former leader, Arsen Pavlov, known as Motorola, was indicted for war crimes in Kyiv and was killed when an explosive device exploded in 2016.
Zhoga’s death is another major blow to Putin after he lost two top military commanders this week and his army fails to make territorial gains as fast as expected.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was reportedly killed in the battle for Hostomel airfield, some 30 miles from the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian soldiers repulsed a Spetsnaz special forces air assault there, and their loss could explain why Russian forces failed to secure the airfield and why the assault on Kyiv stalled.
Zhoga joined the Russian-backed rebels in 2014, the same year the Sparta Battalion, a neo-Na%i militia backed by Moscow, was created. The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks on Ukrainian troops and has been waging war in the Donbass region since hostilities broke out eight years ago.
Its former leader, Arsen Pavlov, known as Motorola, was indicted for war crimes in Kyiv and was killed when an explosive device exploded in 2016. Zhoga’s death is another major blow to Putin after he lost two top military commanders this week and his army is failing to make territorial gains as fast as expected.
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