It appears that another high ranking Russian general has been killed in Ukraine. According the the Ukranian People's Deputy Oleksii Honcharenko Lieutenant General Yakov Ryazantsev, commander of the 49th General Army of the Southern Military District of Russia was killed by Ukranian military forces today.
This has not yet been picked up or verified by US media, but is also being reported by multiple Indian media sources including The Hindu and Khaleej Times
In the US military, the rank of Lieutenant General is considered a three star general, the second highest operating rank in the military. The Russian version is technically a two star general, but either way, it is truly a big effing deal when generals in any military of that high a station are killed in action. It is particularly devastating to a military system like that of Russia as there is no effective NCO corps and even the officer corps is not trained to step in as they are in NATO forces. Rather, Russian officers, like the enlisted below them are primarily trained to follow orders rather than take initiative or apply critical thought beyond their station.
As a US soldier, when I served, even as the very lowest level of the NCO corps, and even among the privates we were always taught to “take the initiative”. It was a fundamental part of our core training. The Russian military by and large does not do that, which makes a loss like this all the more devastating.
