Major General Pavel Klimenko, who commanded Russia’s 5th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, was killed in Ukraine on Wednesday, according to several popular Telegram channels, which his sisters later confirmed on social media. Through leaked personal data, journalists at iStories and BBC Russia have verified the sisters’ identities. However, the circumstances of Klimenko’s death remain unclear. He is the eighth Russian general killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Klimenko commanded a motorized rifle brigade in Russia’s proxy militia in occupied Donetsk before it was integrated into the regular military. He was promoted to major general in May 2024.
As a commander during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Klimenko faced allegations from soldiers’ relatives that he sent his men on “meat-grinder assaults” and ignored torture and systemic violations of soldiers’ rights within his unit, according to BBC Russia.
Journalists at Astra Media report that Klimenko’s brigade ran a “concentration camp” at an abandoned mine outside Donetsk, where his troops tortured men who refused combat orders. It was allegedly Klimenko’s soldiers who tortured to death Russell Bentley, an American blogger working for Russian state propaganda, after mistaking him for a spy. Four soldiers have been charged with the murder.