Pentagon: The top Russian commander was in Ukraine last week

“We know he was in the Donbass area for a few days last week, but we do not know if he is still in the area now,” a Pentagon official told reporters Monday.

He added: “There are reports that the Russian commander was injured in Ukraine, but we can not confirm these reports. The United States does not know why Grasimov traveled to the Russian front line and whether the trip shows the Kremlin’s distrust of Alexander Dornikov, who was appointed commander of Russian operations in Ukraine a few weeks ago.

According to an IRNA report on Monday, quoting the Wake website; Ukrainian officials have claimed that in addition to nearly 200 troops, General Andriy Simonov was killed in the attack, which fired several missiles at the Russian military headquarters, including the Army and Air Force headquarters in Izium.

Earlier unconfirmed reports indicated that General Valery Grasimov, the chief of staff of the Russian army, had been wounded or killed, but Kiev said Grasimov had stopped visiting the base shortly before the attack. In slavery.

U.S. officials told the New York Times that Grasimov had visited eastern Ukraine in the past few days, which was less common for the Russian military commander-in-chief, but could not provide information on the attack on the military headquarters in Izium.

A senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper that his country had learned of Grasimov’s visit to the conflict lines, but that he had returned to Russia before the rocket attack.

The Kiev official added that Ukraine’s decision to destroy this target was not due to Grasimov’s presence, but to the operational importance of the base.

Grasimov, along with President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoiko, are the main masterminds of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-۰۵-۰۲-۲۲/