The Russian army chief of staff was at the front in the Donbass region last week, a Pentagon source said today, without confirming rumors that Valery Guerassimov was wounded in eastern Ukraine.

“What we can confirm is that we know that for several days last week he was in Donbass,” said a senior US Department of Defense (Pentagon) official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Guerashchenko said Sunday that many Russian officers had been hit by an “explosion” in Izium, eastern Ukraine, adding that General Valery Guerassimov was there.

But another Interior Ministry aide, Viktor Androussiv, said in remarks on Ukrainian television that the general was not injured.

“We have confirmation that he was there, in the Izium region (…). We have some confirmation that he was not injured,” he said.

As reported by various media, Guerassimov was at the front, where he inspected the conditions on the ground.

Russian forces, having failed to capture Kyiv, have focused in recent weeks on the Donbass region, where they seek to control the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

The Pentagon source added that the Russian army is making “limited progress” in the clashes with the Ukrainians in that region, considered its “anemic” advance.

The Russians took control of villages that they later lost to Ukrainian forces, he exemplified, quoted by the France-Presse (AFP) agency.

The top US official suggests that the Russian military is demoralized and suffering from disorganized command.

Source: with agencies