War in Ukraine: Mysterious Deaths of Russian Generals in the Conflict

Questions arose about the death of the pilot when a sophisticated Russian Su-25 jet was shot down over the Donbas region in May.

Why was a 63-year-old man wielding such advanced weapons?

What was a retired soldier doing on the plane, who had left the Russian army about ten years ago? Why did another Russian general die in the line of fire? And exactly how many Russian generals were killed in this war?

Solving this mystery tells us a lot about Russia’s military situation and the human cost of war, with the deaths of high-ranking officers.

‘Big P pilot’

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Major General Kanamat Botashev was a highly skilled and respected Russian pilot, and despite his rank, advanced age, and retired status, he returned to the skies on that fateful day.

Did the BBC talk to three of its former subordinates who said it “can’t stay away” from a “special military operation”? The term used by Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

“He was a pilot with the initial P,” one of Botashev’s former colleagues told the BBC. “There are very few people in the world as obsessed with the sky as he is.”

“I will always be proud to serve with him,” said another former colleague.

But Botashev’s involvement in the conflicts in Ukraine makes no sense – and not just because of his age.

Major General Kanamat Botashev was not even on active duty in the Russian armed forces. He was fired ten years ago.

dead generals

Botashev is one of the few Russian generals killed in combat, and while the exact number is hotly debated, losing a single general in modern warfare is highly unusual.

For example, when US Major General Harold Greene was killed by an Afghan soldier in an attack in 2014, his death marked the first time a general had been killed in an operation in more than 40 years.

Ukraine even said that eleven Russian generals have been killed so far in the conflict, but some of these reports have been proven wrong. Three of the men believed to have been killed in Ukraine posted videos online in which they denied they had died.

Are there currently reports of eight Russian generals killed in the fighting? four were confirmed and the other four were not confirmed (but their deaths were not denied either).

In addition to Botashev, three other confirmed deaths are:

It was recorded that Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky died on 1 March. A retired Russian military official tweeted that Sukhovetsky was shot by a Ukrainian sniper in the Hostomel area, not far from the capital, Kiev.

Major General Vladimir Frolov was killed by the Ukrainian Army on April 16. This is an announcement about his funeral in St. Confirmed when published in St. Petersburg. Details of his death were not disclosed.

More recently, on June 5, a Russian state media journalist reported to Telegram that Major General Roman Kutuzov was killed during an attack on Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

Why do we not know how many Russian generals were killed?

The simple answer is that the Ukrainians are unsure of the numbers and the Russians disapprove of the reports.

For Russia, military deaths are considered a state secret, even in peacetime. Russian officer casualties in Ukraine have not been updated since March 25, when 1,351 Russian soldiers were confirmed dead in the first month of the war.

In an ongoing research project, using open sources and data from Russian soldiers’ families, the BBC has compiled a list of more than 3,500 victims, with names and rank, showing that the true number is likely much higher than the actual official figure. .

Our research also shows that one-fifth of Russian soldiers killed were middle- or high-ranking officers.

What does this reveal?

The high-ranking officer casualty rate is impressive, but does the Russian Army have a large number of senior officers? In total, about 1,300 with the rank of general, but most of them are not available on the battlefield.

But some weren’t so lucky, and a significant number of generals were found in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This may be because high-ranking Russian officers perform tasks and make decisions that are often left to low-ranking officers in other armies; which makes many of them close to the front.

US and European officials say low morale among Russian troops is forcing the military to mobilize more senior officers.

The lack of communications equipment has also been accused of contributing to the danger faced by these military personnel, allegedly forcing them to use conventional telephones that compromise operational safety.

U.S. media reports say that Ukrainian military intelligence officers deliberately attacked these Russian officers with snipers and artillery, and that the United States was providing Ukraine with intelligence on their whereabouts.

unauthorized flights

But all this would have been purely theoretical for Botashev had he retired. So why did he find himself on the battlefield again?

Botashev’s career was not simple: he was fired from the Army in 2012 after crashing into a plane he was not supposed to fly.

He had taken control of the “crown jewel” of Russian military technology: a sophisticated Su-27 fighter jet.

In the Russian army, the authority to fly a certain type of jet is obtained after hours of special training.

Botashev was not authorized to fly the Su-27, but somehow gained access to it. He lost control of the plane mid-flight, but he and a colleague managed to jump out of the plane. He survived ‘failure’ but knew he had to pay a price for it.

It wasn’t the first time he’d boarded a plane he shouldn’t have – which made the situation worse.

In 2011, he climbed into the cockpit of the Su-34, another advanced Russian jet without a license, and took him on an illegal trip.

pay off debts

In 2012, a court ruled that although the plane was worth millions of dollars, Botashev had to pay a fine of approximately $75,000 for damage from the crash. According to an open-source government database, he still owed more than half that amount when he died last month.

Botashev was fired from his post and began working for DOSAAF, a state voluntary organization dating back to the 1950s with ties to the Russian Army and Navy.

His army pension was around $360 (R$ 1800) and should not have been more than that.

With this income, he was trying to pay off an important debt to the Russian state, and at the time of his death Botashev was said to be working in a private military company.

Russian authorities deny that these private companies have any connection with the Russian state.