Russia’s highest-ranking General dodges Ukraine attack in secret trip to front line

Amid the ongoing war, the highest-ranking Russian serviceman visited several regions which were occupied by the Russian forces, news agency, Ukrinform reported on Sunday. According to the media reports, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation General Valery Gerasimov visited several posts in Ukraine which were now occupied by the Russian soldiers. The media report said that the top military officer visited Ukraine last week. Citing Russian military officials, the report claimed that the Ukrainian soldiers learned about the visit and added they failed to react on time.

"The Ukrainian side learned about the visit but did not have time to catch Gerasimov. When the Ukrainian forces opened fire on one of the positions visited by Gerasimov at the G12 school in the Russian-controlled city of Izyum on Saturday night, the general had already returned to Russia," Ukrinform quoted a Russian official. 

7 top Russian army officials were killed in the war

Though the Russian forces have been unrelenting in their pursuit to invade Ukraine by unleashing extreme military aggression, Putin's forces have been facing immense casualties on their end as several top military officials were killed in recent days amid the ongoing war. As per media reports, Russian general Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev was killed in the ongoing "military operation "earlier last month. As per the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, Rezantsev was the highest-ranked officer to be killed since the beginning of the war. 

Lavrov says Moscow is not in the mood to wrap up the ongoing "military operations"

On the other hand, refuting speculations of Russian forces using their maximum muscles against the Ukrainian troops before the Victory Day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "Moscow will not forcefully adjust its actions". According to Lavrov, Russia is not in the mood to wrap up the ongoing "military operations" in accordance with Victory Day, which is also called an anniversary day to celebrate Nazi Germany's surrender to allied forces. He said that the pace of operation depends on minimising risks for the civilian population and Russian soldiers.

"The pace of the operation in Ukraine depends, first of all, on the need to minimize any risks for the civilian population and Russian military personnel," Lavrov told the Italian Mediaset broadcaster, saying that "our troops will not artificially adjust their actions to any date, including Victory Day." Further, he maintained that the main goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin is to provide security to the civilian population and added the Russian forces would stick to their goal, "until achieved".

Image: AP/Republic World