JUDGE DEAD Russian chief justice Vyacheslav Lebedev dies aged 81 days after meeting with Putin as Moscow say he had ‘long illness’
A RUSSIAN justice chief has died just days after meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Vyacheslav Lebedev, president of Russia's Supreme Court, was suffering from a "long a prolonged illness" before dying in Moscow.
The 81-year-old's condition was believed to be cancer-related, Russian paper Kommersant reported.
“He was a real fighter. Fought to the end. I participated in the work of the Supreme Court literally until the last day,” a Kommersant source said.
Lebedev's death comes just days after his meeting with Putin.
Putin told Lebedev: "Under your leadership, the Supreme Court has done a great deal to make the judiciary transparent and more accessible for our people."
The Supreme Court boss' death is the latest in a string of high-rank losses for Vlad.
More than 30 high profile Russians have died since the tyrant invaded Ukraine.
Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko, 63, was the most senior of 10 military officers killed this month in a suspected Storm Shadow missile strike.
The attack took place on the Belbek airbase in occupied Crimea.
Last Friday, fierce Putin critic Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic jail in suspicious circumstances.
And Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a fiery jet crash in August when his plane was blown out of the sky in a horrific explosion.
Two years ago, Putin sent a lethal army of troops into Ukraine in an attack that shocked the world.
On Saturday, Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrsky has said he still believes that "light" will triumph over "darkness".
"I am convinced that unity is our victory. And it will definitely happen. Because light always conquers darkness!" Syrsky said on social media.
The Ukrainian army chief recalled how few believed that Ukraine could fend off a Russian advance in the first days of the war in 2022.
He said: "When thousands of columns of Russian invaders moved from all directions into Ukraine, when thousands of missiles and bombs fell on our land, no one in the world believed that we would survive.
"No one believed, but Ukraine did! It believed, accepted the battle and survived."
The army chief went on to praise Ukraine's fallen soldiers and the efforts of their troops - who have been able to liberate land in the northeast and in the south.
He added that, two years on, Ukraine remains determined to fight.
Since war broke out, 70,000 Ukrainian troops and at least 10,000 civilians have also been killed, although it is feared that number is likely far higher.
This estimate includes more than 560 children.
Meanwhile, at least 302,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the front line.
Although, it has been estimated that Russia has only lost 79 civilians.
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