Commander of Russia's Akhmat unit killed in Donbas – Russian media

Yevgeny Pisarenko, the commander of Akhmat, a Chechen armed formation that is fighting on the Russian side, has been killed in combat in Donbas.

Source: Russian Kremlin-aligned media RBC, citing Apta Alaudinov, Pisarenko's successor

Details: In his statement, Alaudinov thanked the deceased fighter’s parents for "raising such a hero".

Dmitry Kulko, a Russian war correspondent, also reported the death of Pisarenko, aka Velikii ("The Great"), on his Telegram channel.

"Velikii (The Great) was a fellow countryman of mine who served in the Stavropol riot police and received the rank of colonel. When the special military operation [the Russian term for the war in Ukraine – ed.] started, he went to the front as a volunteer soldier to protect the residents of Donbas," he wrote.

The date of Pisarenko’s death was not specified.

The Akhmat battalion has been participating in combat action in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.

Background:

• In June, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued an order obliging all "voluntary formations" to sign a contract with the Defence Ministry by 1 July "in order to increase the efficiency of their deployment" in the war against Ukraine; mercenaries from the Akhmat unit were the first to sign this document on camera.

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