Senior commander of Putin's elite special forces killed in Ukraine: Report

The Russian military has reportedly suffered a major casualty in the form of a decorated senior military officer.

Lieutenant Colonel Nikolay Gorban, 36, head of the 4th Department of the Special Operations Department of Russia's Federal Security Service, was reportedly killed "somewhere in Ukraine

on August 2, Newsweek reports.   

The circumstances surrounding the death of Gorban, who reportedly fought in Syria and possessed two Medals of Courage, were not mentioned. Gorban was reportedly among Russian President Vladimir Putin's highest-ranking officials, according to Pavlushko.

Pavlushko also posted a photo of a plaque featuring Gorban's picture, with flowers placed underneath. The message, written in Russian, reads that Gorban "participated in the conduct of combat activities and special operations both in Russia and abroad."

Gorban's death would reportedly be the 99th of a Russian colonel or lieutenant colonel during the Russia-Ukraine war. The 98th such death, according to The Mirror, was Colonel Vasily Kleshchenko, an army aviation commander who headed the 344th combat use and retraining centre for elite helicopter pilots and snipers.

The Kremlin's first female colonel, Olga "Korsa" Kachura, 52, was also killed last week when a Ukrainian missile hit her car as she was driving in the city of Horlivka, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, according to Margarita Simonyan, the pro-Kremlin editor of RT.

The Russian military deaths come as some perceive the conflict has tilted due to weaponry and other aid provided by Ukrainian allies.

Nico Lange, a German lawmaker and chief of staff for the country's Federal Minister of Defense, recently said that Ukrainian attacks differ from Russia's "rolling barrage" of artillery in that Ukrainian civilians are galvanizing and combating the enemy in occupied cities, behind enemy lines.

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, are also proving fruitful for Ukrainian forces. The weaponry funded by the United States has been praised by individuals including Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol, who said on Telegram Monday morning that over 100 Russian soldiers had been killed by such rockets.