VLADIMIR Putin’s infamous “Torture General” has been killed by Ukrainian forces after heading up a grim prison camp.
Major-General Pavel Klimenko, 47, was riding a motorbike in the war zone when he was hit by a kamikaze drone near the town of Krasnohorivka.
Russian Major-General Pavel Klimenko, 47, was killed by Ukraine
East2WestKlimenko, centre, during a meeting with Vladimir Putin[/caption]
GettyUkrainian soldiers fight off Russian assaults on the frontline[/caption]
The wounded commander was taken to a local hospital in occupied Donetsk and later died from head injuries, according to reports.
He had been inspecting military checkpoints and observation points when he and his group came under attack.
Klimenko ran a Donetsk brigade and formed a vile torture camp where anti-war Russians were beaten and starved.
Other victims were held in his unofficial jail and forced to hand over their army salaries and compensation for war wounds to him and his fellow commanders.
He also forced mobilised troops to join “meat assaults” – high casualty attacks against Ukraine where Russian men served as cannon fodder.
Klimenko claimed “tens of thousands” of torture victims over the years.
He was promoted to the rank of Major-General in Putin’s army six months ago – marking another humiliating blow for Vlad with the latest general loss.
After his death, Klimenko’s men allegedly blew up his body in an attempt to cover the traces of Ukraine’s successful attack.
Russian commentator Alexander Nevzorov reported: “It was [Klimenko] who inspired and organised the torture of soldiers who refused to carry out criminal orders from the command.”
He said the general was “famous for his cruelty and greed”.
“He not only tortured tens and thousands of his subordinates in basements and sent them to slaughter, but also took money from them”, the journalist added.
Russian reports today say he is the eighth Russian general killed in the war – following a slew of crushing defeats for warmonger Vlad.
The real figure is believed to be far higher.
Early last year, Japanese intelligence suggested the tally was 20-plus.
Putin’s top brass killed one by one
MANY top Russian generals have been slaughtered since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine over two years ago.
Ukraine‘s bold counteroffensive missile attacks, campaigns and battles have cut down many of Vlad’s most senior commanders.
Here we take a look at some of those men:
Admiral Viktor Sokolov was Moscow’s top admiral in Crimea and was said to be killed in September.
Ukrainian special forces apparently took out the commander, 61, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.
Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was one of the first to die when he was shot dead by a sniper in March, in a major blow to Putin’s resources.
He was reportedly killed at the battle for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv.
Vitaly Gerasimov, another of Putin’s senior officers, was killed in conflict outside Ukraine’s Kharkiv, just days after Sukhovetsky’s death.
Gerasimov was awarded a medal for “capturing” the disputed province of Crimea in 2014, and also received medals after leading troops in Syria and in the second Chechen war.
Major General Andrei Kolesnikov, of the 29th Combined Arms Army, was killed in March 2022, Ukraine’s defence mistry said at the time.
Colonel Andrei Zakharov, commander of a tank regiment, was killed in an a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv also in March 2022.
Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, who led a Marine brigade, died along with Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov and Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, who led air assault troops.
Safronov and Glebov were killed when Ukrainian forces have recaptured the city of Chuhuiv, while Zizevsky was killed at in the south of Ukraine.
General Magomed Tushaev died in February 2022 when his Chechen special forces column, including 56 tanks, was obliterated near Hostomel, north-east of the city.
EPAUkrainian troops installing anti-tank landmines along the frontline near Donetsk[/caption]
AFPUkrainian emergency and rescue personnel stand in debris after a Russian attack[/caption]
East2WestKlimenko’s men blew up his body after he died to cover the successful Ukrainian assault[/caption]
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