Russian Major General Anton Grunis, the commander of the 4th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade (formerly the 4th Brigade of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic”), has been killed in the war in Ukraine, according to a report by the investigative outlet Important Stories. The death of Major General Grunis was also reported by Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, and by the Suvorovskoye Bratstvo (lit. “Suvorov Brotherhood”) Telegram channel, which is run by graduates of Russia’s Suvorov military schools.
The circumstances of Grunis’ death currently remain unclear. Important Stories noted that leaked records appeared to place him in Alchevsk, in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Luhansk Region. On Sept. 13, a few days before the reports began appearing, Ukrainian forces struck multiple locations across the city. Ukraine said the strikes destroyed a supply depot and a location where Russian forces stored weapons and military equipment.
Around the same time, according to the Exilenova+ monitoring channel, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) attacked military equipment in the settlement of Karpaty near Alchevsk. It is not known whether Grunis’ death was connected to those strikes.
Before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Grunis took part in Russian military campaigns in Chechnya, Georgia, and Syria. He also participated in the annexation of Crimea.
More recently, Grunis commanded a brigade advancing toward Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region. In July, the Major General reported to Vladimir Putin that the city had been captured, and a month later he was awarded the title Hero of Russia, the country’s highest honorary distinction.
Kostyantynivka, however, has still not come fully under Russian control. The open-source intelligence project Black Bird Group and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) continue to report fighting inside the city.
The pro-war Russian Telegram channel Rybar also indicates that Ukrainian positions in the area remain, marking the territory as a contested “gray zone” that is not firmly controlled by either side.
