Pentagon Downplays Reports of Russian Generals’ Battlefield Killings

The Defense Department on Monday downplayed the significance of reports that as many as a half-dozen Russian generals have died in combat in Ukraine, despite claims from Kyiv of “striking” attrition among Russia’s front-line commanders.

Ukrainian officials have for weeks touted reports and images on social media that supposedly show Russian general officers among the battlefield casualties, including one widely shared instance in which a general’s corpse appeared to be left behind in the mud as his own troops relocated.

Mykhailo Podoliak, a senior advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskeyy, on Sunday tweeted the names...