The deputy commander of Russia’s Navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, was killed in a Ukrainian attack in the Kursk region, Russian authorities said Thursday.
Primorye region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako was the first to confirm the general’s death in a post on Telegram, expressing his condolences to Gudkov’s family and those of “other soldiers who died in the Kursk region.” He did not provide details about the circumstances of their deaths.
Unconfirmed media reports suggested Gudkov and 10 other senior military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on their command post near the town of Korenevo, around 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region.
The Russian military’s broadcaster Zvezda, citing the Defense Ministry, later reported that the general died on Wednesday “during combat duty in one of the border areas of the Kursk region.”
Gudkov previously commanded the Russian Pacific Fleet’s 155th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade, based in the Far East Primorye region, before being promoted to deputy Navy chief in March.
President Vladimir Putin informed Gudkov of his promotion during a televised meeting with the crew of a nuclear submarine.
Putin has regularly praised the 155th brigade, including at his year-end press conference in December. In October, he credited the unit with repelling a Ukrainian cross-border incursion into the Kursk region the previous August.
