A RUSSIAN warlord who led the Neo-Nazi Sparta Battalion has been shot dead in Ukraine in another major blow for Vladimir Putin’s stalled invasion.
Vladimir Zhoga was killed during battle in the eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha on Saturday.
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Denis Pushilin, who heads the breakaway Ukrainian territory of Donetsk, confirmed the kill on his Telegram channel.
“Today, the commander of the Sparta separate reconnaissance battalion, Guards Col. Vladimir Zhoga (nom de guerre Vokha), died like a hero in Volnovakha,” he wrote.
According to Pushilin, the commander was killed during an operation to evacuate civilians from Volnovakha – one of cities where Russian troops violated a ceasefire agreement on Saturday.
Zhoga joined Russian-backed rebels in 2014 – the same year in which the Sparta Battalion, a Neo-Nazi militia that has the support of Moscow, was created.
The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks against Ukrainian troops and has been waging war in the Donbass region since hostilities broke out eight years ago.
Its former leader, Arsen Pavlov, known as Motorola, was accused of war crimes in Kyiv and died when he was blown up an explosive device in 2016.
Zhoga’s death is another major blow for Putin after he lost two top military chiefs this week and his army fails to make territorial gains as fast as previously expected.
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Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky was reportedly killed at the battle for Hostomel Airfield about 30 miles outside the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian soldiers fought off a Spetsnaz special forces air assault there — and his loss could explain why Russian forces failed to secure the airfield as well as why the assault on Kyiv had stalled.
It was also revealed that Ukrainian snipers also picked off a Kremlin regional and a divisional commander.
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It comes as…
Western officials believe Russian top brass are exposing themselves on the frontline to spearhead drained and untrained rank-and-file troops.
One said: “That’s an indication of some degree of frustration and some degree of lack of progress – and they’re trying to impose their personality on the battlefield and putting themselves at personal risk.”
They said Putin’s commanders have been knocked for six and suffered a “psychological impact” by the “ferocity of the fighting”.
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