KYIV, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Ukrainian drone forces killed a Russian general in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, a little over two weeks after he received a Hero of Russia award for his wartime service, Ukrainian drone commander Robert Brovdi said.
Major General Anton Grunis had won praise from President Vladimir Putin earlier this year after reporting how troops under his command helped Russia capture the Ukrainian stronghold of Kostiantynivka, a territorial claim disputed by Kyiv and independent military analysts.
Brovdi, who commands Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces, said one of his units had killed Grunis in a nighttime strike on his position in a Russian-held part of Ukraine's Donetsk region.
"General Grunis was eliminated on September 12," Brovdi wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday, adding that the general was the seventh Russian military commander killed by his drone forces. Reuters could not independently verify Brovdi's assertions.
Russia's Defence Ministry does not routinely confirm battlefield deaths of senior personnel, but Russian commander Apti Alaudinov, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said Grunis had died, without giving further details.
A solemn-faced Grunis received the Gold Star Hero of Russia award at a ceremony in late August, standing first in a line of officers in dress uniform.
On July 3, he had addressed Putin via video link at a televised security meeting and described in detail how troops of his 4th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade had participated in the claimed capture of Kostiantynivka.
Putin congratulated him and said: "Luck comes to those who do the work."
At the time, Ukraine denied that Russia had captured the city and said its forces retained control. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces had infiltrated but not fully seized the city and said Russia's claim was part of a wider information campaign to "portray the Ukrainian frontlines as collapsing."
Russia’s overall advances have slowed this year, but its forces have continued to press strategic cities such as Kostiantynivka. Moscow wants to control all of the broader Donbas region and has made that a central territorial demand in stalled negotiations with Kyiv.
(Reporting by Reuters; Additional reporting by Anna Pruchnika in Kyiv; Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
