Another major blow to Putin, Russia admits the killing of neo-Nazi battalion commander

The Sun” writes that Vladimir Joga was killed during the battle in Ukraine's eastern town of Volnovakha yesterday. Dennis Pushil, who heads the Ukrainian breakaway territory of Donnetsk, confirmed the death of the Russian war commander. The news is confirmed by Russian news agency TASS.

“Today, commander of the special Spartan intelligence battalion, Garda Colonel Vladimir Joga, died as a hero in Volnovha”, he wrote.

According to Pushil, Joga was killed in an operation to evacuate civilians from Volnovakha, one of the cities where the Russians violated the ceasefire agreement on Saturday.

Jogg joined the Russian-backed rebels in 2014, the year Sparta Battalion was established, a neo-Nazi militia with Moscow's support. The group is behind a wave of deadly attacks on Ukrainian troops and has waged war in the Donbass region since the outbreak of hostility eight years ago.

Joga's death is another major blow to Vladimir Putin, as he lost two top military chiefs this week and his army is failing to make progress on Ukrainian territory as soon as expected.