Russian state media is reporting the death of another Russian general who was buried Saturday morning.
Russian Maj. Gen. Vladimir Petrovich Frolov, the 8th Army's deputy commander, was buried in Saint Petersburg, according to the St. Petersburg's administration's press service.
St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov, attending the military funeral at Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg, said Frolov was killed battling Ukraine forces, Russian newspaper Fontanka reported.
"Today, we say goodbye to a real hero," Beglov said, TASS reported. "Vladimir Petrovich Frolov died a heroic death in battle with Ukrainian nationalists.
"He sacrificed his life so that children, women, and the elderly in the Donbas would no longer hear bomb explosions. So that they stop waiting for death and, leaving home, say goodbye as if it were the last time."
The number of Russia's military casualties is a notorious point of contention, depending on the source. Russia's last publicly acknowledged count military deaths was 1,351 as of March 25. NATO estimates the number is closer to 15,000 troops, but Ukraine has claimed as many as 20,000, according to reports.
"Gen. Frolov is a hereditary military man," Beglov said at the funeral, according to Russian state media. "A true patriot, a brave and brave man, he honestly and to the end fulfilled his military and human duty. The people will not forget their heroes. Eternal memory to him."
Rarely has Russia confirmed deaths of a general, making this report about Beglov's funeral even more noteworthy amid fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.