One of Putin’s top paratroopers killed in Ukraine just weeks into command after ‘suicide squad’ regiment was decimated

ONE of Russia’s top paratrooper commanders has been killed trying to hold back Ukraine’s counteroffensive, reports say.  Vasily Popov, 38, was believed to have died alongside three other officers in the latest set of Russian deaths. East2WestVasily Popov, 38, was killed when fighting against Ukraine[/caption] East2WestPopov led the 247th Airborne Assault Regimen- a group of top Russian paratroopers[/caption] Ukrainian forces have been conducting limited and successful counterattacks around Kyiv to try and disrupt the Russian militaries plans to take over the city and relieve some pressure on the capital. It’s so far been successful with the city being increasingly less likely to get taken over by Russia. Popov led the elite 247th Airborne Assault Regiment for just a few weeks as he just recently took over. The exact circumstances of his death have not been disclosed but it’s likely he died on the Donetsk-Zaporizhzhia regional border, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The regiment is known to have earlier suffered heavy losses in the Ukrainian War, with there being a scandal over his predecessor’s failure to send back the bodies of the fallen troops. An earlier commander of the regiment Konstantin Zizevsky was killed in the first few days of the war, and has since been given the title of Hero of Russia. The so called “suicide squad” regiment have suffered heavy losses in Vladimir Putin’s failed rapid invasion of Ukraine at the start of the war.  ISW suggested that the Russian strategy of sending more elite troops for counterattacks on Ukraine will lead to a decimation of Russian forces. Popov’s death provoked an emotional response among pro-war commentators.  Yegor Guzenko, author of Telegram network Z-channel Thirteenth said: “The new commander of the 247th regiment died. “He only recently took up his command.  “A good man, damn, really, damn, a hero, damn, just a hero. “I have no other words, and I feel sorry for him.  “Three other men died with him, and I feel sorry for them.” Russia has suffered several high profile deaths in the brutal war so far with Vitaly Gerasimov getting assassinated in March last year just days after Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was killed by a Ukrainian sniper during the fighting for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv. Major General Andrei Simonov also died while fighting last year after his troop was targeted by brutal rocket strikes. Footage went round social media showing the rocket exploding as presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych confirmed the general’s death alongside 100 other Russians in the vicious attack. Most recently Vladimir Putin took a big blow when a Russian patrol boat was blown up by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone coming just days after Ukraine launched a string of bold attacks on the tyrant’s prized £3billion bridge to Crimea. It’s understood a number of people were killed and injured in the strike. East2WestPopov is just the latest senior Russian to be killed in the Ukrainian War[/caption] East2WestThe regiment has been labelled ‘”the suicide squad” as hundreds have died from fighting[/caption]