Third Russian General killed as assault on Kyiv stalls

A third Russian Major General has been killed in the Ukraine conflict, landing another blow on Vladimir Putin's invasion plans. 

Ukrainian officials said Major General Andrei Kolesnikov, commander of the 29th army of Russia's eastern district, had been killed.

Kolesnikov is the third Russian Major General to be killed by Ukrainian forces since the invasion began 16 days ago. 

Major General Vitaly Gerasimov and Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky both died in fighting outside of Kharkiv. 

Putin's planned lightning assault on Ukraine has stalled and Russia has so far failed to take the capital city of Kyiv. 

Russian forces are on the outskirts of the city and images released by private U.S. satellite firm Maxar showed armoured units manoeuvring in and through towns close to an airport on Kyiv's northwest outskirts, site of fighting since Russia landed paratroopers there in the first hours of the war.

Russian tactics have been called into question after tanks were ambushed outside of Brovay, an eastern suburb of Kyiv. 

A video released by Ukrainian authorities show Russian authorities shows tanks and armoured vehicles being repeatedly attacked. 

"I cannot report about the 6th regiment. I’m collecting data. Lots of losses. They waited for us. Head of the convoy got into the ambush. Regiment commander killed in action," a voice, thought to be a Russian officer, can be heard saying on the video. 

Russian casualties have been higher than Putin would have expected with an assessment by the United States earlier this week saying both sides had lost around 10 percent of the forces they had committed to fighting.