MOSCOW, Dec 4 — A Russian general has died while deployed in Ukraine, the governor of Russia’s Voronezh region said today, the latest high-ranking Russian military figure to die during the 21-month offensive.

Russian authorities rarely speak of their losses in Ukraine but they have acknowledged the death of several high-ranking officers.

"A piercing pain. Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of the 14th Army Corps of the Northern Fleet, died in the line of duty in a special operation zone,” Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev said on Telegram, using the Russian term for its offensive in Ukraine.

Gusev paid homage to Zavadsky, calling him "a courageous officer, a real general and a worthy man”.

He did not specify the circumstances of Zavadsky’s death.

Russian Telegram channels with sources in the army said he was killed at the end of November after he stepped on a mine away from the front line, implying it could have been a device laid previously by Russian forces.

The announcement comes as Russian troops are trying to seize Avdiivka, an industrial town in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine that has become one of the most contended points on the front line. — AFP