Russia has admitted it has lost its first GRU military intelligence spy in the latest high-profile casualty of its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
Captain Aleksei Glushchak, 31, from Tyumen in Siberia, died in a massacre in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, but the Russians did not give details of how he was killed.
“Due to the strict secrecy of the military operation, the circumstances of the death of the Tyumen hero are not disclosed,” the report says.
Photos have surfaced of the funeral of Glushchak’s single father in Russia, where he was buried with full military honors from the guard of honor, despite Russia hiding “thousands” of deaths from those who stayed at home.
Putin’s protracted invasion resulted in the loss of 12 commanders, including three generals.
The photo shows the funeral of Captain Alexei Glushchak, a military intelligence officer of the GRU of Russia.
Glushchak died in the fighting near Mariupol, the Russian military said, admitting for the first time the loss of a GRU officer.
It turned out that on the day of his death, a military intelligence officer was talking in Russia with his wife and mother.
He called to congratulate them on International Women’s Day, but on the same day in the evening they found out that he had been killed.
He will be awarded posthumously.
It is unclear exactly when Glushchak (pictured) died, although it is believed to have happened in the early stages of the fighting.
It also emerged that two elite reconnaissance paratroopers were killed as losses to Vladimir Putin’s forces escalate.
Georgy Dudorov, deputy commander of the reconnaissance company of the 137th regiment of the 106th Tula Guards Airborne Division, was declared dead.
Another paratrooper killed was Aleksey Aleshko, a graduate of the prestigious Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne School.
This follows the loss last week of Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army, the third general to die in action out of 20 who took part in the invasion.
His death came four days after the assassination of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, 45, first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st Army.
The general took part in the second Chechen war, the Russian military operation in Syria and the annexation of Crimea, winning medals from these campaigns.
According to reports, Gerasimov was the son of Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
And 47-year-old Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky, deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, died.
Sukhovetsky died during a special operation in Ukraine, his colleague Sergey Chipilev wrote on social networks.
Major General of the 29th Combined Arms Army Andrey Kolesnikov died last week as a result of another strike on the Kremlin.
Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (left) died last week and was the first deputy commander of Russia’s 41st Army. In Ukraine, the 47-year-old deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District, Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky (right), also died.
Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov (left) and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov (right) died in the battle near Chuguev and
In the south of Ukraine, Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky, who led the airborne assault detachment, died.
Sagyndyk Kudaibergenov (left), 22 years old, from Tyumen, was killed along with Vladimir Plekhanov (right), 24 years old.
He was shot dead by a sniper near Mariupol, which has been under heavy siege by Russian troops for several days.
Their death coincides with the first expression of anger and dismay at the number of coffins being returned to Russia.
The exact number of Russian servicemen who died in combat is difficult to obtain. Ukraine claims 12,000 people were killed, but did not update this figure for several days.
European and American estimates are lower – between 2,000 and 6,000 – while Russia has only admitted about 500 deaths.
The GRU was behind the Novichok poisoning of its former spy, Sergei Skripal, who defected to the UK, in Salisbury.
Moscow did not provide an up-to-date total number of those who died in the war and named only a handful of the dead, including several generals.
Many of the funerals currently covered in the media are dedicated to the soldiers killed at the end of February.
It takes Russia two weeks or more to deliver their bodies to relatives, many of whom live in the Russian Far East, thousands of miles from the bloody war zone.
The pain manifests itself in an increasing number of hostile and painful fasts.
“When will this stop, we see coffins almost every day?” one said.
“Why did we have to send our boys to this hell?” another asked.
The funeral was also held for 24-year-old corporal Danil Novolodsky, senior gunner of the airborne artillery battery.
Glushchak’s portrait lies on his coffin, along with his military decorations, as Russia’s death toll rises in 18 days of fighting in Ukraine.
Despite admitting losses in Ukraine, Moscow is believed to be hiding ‘thousands’ of deaths from its citizens (Glushak’s funeral pictured)
By decree signed by Vladimir Putin, he was awarded the Order of Courage.
He was from Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Republic of Buryatia in Siberia, a predominantly Buddhist region that has seen a disproportionate number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine.
In anticipation of the invasion, tens of thousands of soldiers were sent west along the Trans-Siberian Railway to participate in the coming war.
In the same region, the funeral of 24-year-old Vladimir Plekhanov, an orphan raised by a living foster family, took place.
22-year-old Sagyndyk Kudaibergenov from Tyumen, like the GRU agent, was buried with military honors, the report said.
He died as a result of a mortar attack, throwing communications equipment across the river.
He was killed on February 26, but his funeral did not take place until March 11.
This follows the deaths of Major General Vitaly Gerasimov, Chief of Staff of the Russian 41st Army, who reportedly died fighting in Kharkov last week, and Major General Andrey Sukhovetsky, Deputy Commander of the 41st Army, who died early intrusions.