Ukraine Missile Attack Just Misses Secretive Visit By Russia’s Top General To Front Line

Ukraine’s military is touting that a major rocket strike on a makeshift command center in the country’s east near the Donbas had just missed the presence of Russia’s highest general. 

It was revealed Sunday that for the first time in the war the chief of staff of Russia’s forces and President Vladimir Putin’s top military adviser Gen. Valery Gerasimov made the secretive trip to observe firsthand military gains in the region. 

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, file image

The New York Times had described the rare, high-risk journey to Izium as an attempt to boost morale and “change the course” of the slow pace of the advance in capturing the eastern territories.

“Our working assumption is that he was there because there’s a recognition they haven’t worked out all their problems yet,” a US official told The New York Times.

Gen. Gerasimov already departed the area back to Russia following a reported two-day trip to the Russia-captured zone. Ukraine forces still claim to have killed another general during the strikes, but this is unconfirmed:

Ukrainian officials said an attack on a key Russian command center in the eastern city of Izyum on Saturday evening killed about 200 Russian troops, including Maj. Gen. Andrei Simonov, but just missed hitting the chief of the general staff of the Russian military, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who had just concluded a secret visit to the army and airborne command center. Earlier, unconfirmed reports suggested Gerasimov was wounded in the strike.

The attack reportedly took out School No. 12, Russia’s Izyum command center, following Gerasimov’s secretive visit which was only made public in the aftermath. Ukraine government officials are claiming that there were a “Large number of casualties among senior Russian officers” – but the Kremlin has not acknowledged the assertions is not expected to.

Ukraine’s military says it received belated intelligence on the Russian commander’s high-level visit to the frontlines…

The chief of the general staff of the Russian military, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, made a visit to dangerous front-line positions in eastern Ukraine late last week. Ukrainian officials learned of the visit, but not in time to catch General Gerasimov. https://t.co/zoMgNalEHh

— Mathieu von Rohr (@mathieuvonrohr) May 2, 2022

A top Ukraine military official told the NY Times that “The decision to destroy this object was taken not because of Gerasimov, but because it is an important base of operations.”

If it’s accurate that the strike killed Gen. Simonov, he “could be at least the 10th Russian general killed during Russia’s Ukraine war,” according to The Week. While it’s clear that some high-ranking commanders have been among the casualties since the Feb.24 invasion began, in many cases it’s proven impossible to verify the list of generals Ukraine’s military says it’s killed thus far.