Ukraine-Russia war: The Russian Ministry of Defence has confirmed the death of Major General Mikhail Gudkov, Deputy Head of the Russian Navy. Gudkov was killed during what authorities described as “combat work” in the Kursk region, located on Russia’s western frontier bordering Ukraine’s Sumy region. While official statements from Moscow have provided only vague references to operational details, multiple unconfirmed sources from Russian and Ukrainian military-linked Telegram channels suggest the high-profile commander was the victim of a Ukrainian missile strike on a command post near the town of Korenevo, approximately 30 kilometers from the border.
The loss of General Gudkov, who was only recently appointed to his senior naval post by President Vladimir Putin in March 2025, marks one of the most significant casualties among Russia’s top military brass since the launch of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. With a growing number of high-profile figures reportedly targeted in recent months, his death is emblematic of the war’s increasingly targeted and asymmetrical nature — and a sign of Ukraine’s growing capability to project power deep into Russian territory.
Though Russia’s Defence Ministry has refrained from revealing precise details about the incident, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky region in Russia’s Far East, confirmed in a Telegram post that Gudkov was killed “while carrying out his duty.” He also noted that ten other Russian servicemen perished alongside him. Kozhemyako’s tribute described Gudkov as a “loyal officer” and “a true son of Russia,” sentiments echoed by mourners in Vladivostok, home to the Pacific Fleet, where flowers were laid at a makeshift memorial honoring the fallen general.
Speculation is rife over whether Gudkov’s death was the result of a Ukrainian strike on a fixed Russian command post or a more fluid frontline skirmish. Many military-linked social media accounts in both Russia and Ukraine claim it was a precise, intelligence-led missile attack — potentially a HIMARS or similar long-range system — targeting a mobile command unit. This hypothesis aligns with Ukraine’s pattern of using real-time intelligence, often shared by Western allies, to carry out surgical strikes aimed at degrading Russian leadership structures.
Ukrainian officials, as is customary, have not confirmed their involvement. Kyiv has consistently maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity regarding cross-border operations and targeted assassinations, although unnamed Ukrainian intelligence sources have previously taken responsibility for similar operations in off-the-record conversations with Western media.
Major General Mikhail Gudkov was a decorated officer with a long military career rooted in Russia’s Pacific Fleet. Most notably, he had commanded the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade — a unit that has seen extensive combat in the Donbas, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and later in defensive operations near Kursk.
His rapid rise through the ranks, punctuated by his receipt of the Hero of the Russian Federation award (Gold Star) in December 2023, positioned him as one of the most prominent new faces of Russia’s military command. Gudkov’s last public appearance was during a Kremlin ceremony in February 2025, where he was seen receiving his medal from President Vladimir Putin in person. The award was widely perceived as a gesture of both recognition and consolidation within the Navy’s leadership.
According to Russian military analysts, Gudkov was instrumental in reconfiguring Russia’s naval infantry to operate in land-based joint command structures — a necessity as the war has seen the Navy’s ground forces deployed far from maritime theaters, including in Kharkiv, Luhansk, and now in Russia’s own border regions.
Gudkov’s death is part of a broader pattern that has seen a marked increase in targeted killings of senior military figures on both sides.
In December 2024, General Igor Kirillov — head of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops — was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian strike, though Moscow denied these claims. In February 2025, another high-ranking officer, General Yaroslav Moskalik, was assassinated in a car bomb explosion in Moscow. The Kremlin immediately blamed Ukrainian operatives, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accusing Kyiv of “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Ukraine, too, has been the target of several assassination attempts. Last year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced it had thwarted a Russian plan to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and top defense officials. Since the start of the war, Zelensky himself has publicly acknowledged surviving multiple Russian hit attempts, referring to himself as Russia’s “number one target.”
These operations, while often shrouded in mystery and propaganda, reflect the covert dimensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict — an arena marked by sabotage, cyberattacks, targeted strikes, and intelligence warfare, far removed from the conventional trench warfare playing out in the Donbas.
The Kursk region has increasingly found itself on the edge of open warfare. Last summer, Ukrainian forces launched an ambitious cross-border raid into the area, briefly establishing a presence in several border villages. While most of the Ukrainian units were driven out by Russian reinforcements, Ukrainian intelligence and special operations forces are believed to have maintained a light footprint in the region through reconnaissance and sabotage missions.
In June 2025, Ukraine claimed it still controlled “small tactical zones” in the forests and marshes along the Sumy-Kursk border — a claim that has not been independently verified but aligns with growing reports of drone attacks, artillery duels, and localized clashes in the area. The Kremlin has responded by heavily fortifying its western regions, deploying airborne units and building elaborate trench networks — efforts that have turned parts of Belgorod and Kursk into militarized zones resembling eastern Ukraine.
Gudkov’s presence in such a volatile region suggests Russia has assigned top commanders to oversee defensive operations and prevent Ukrainian incursions — but the incident also reveals how vulnerable these command structures are, even on Russian soil.
In parallel to Gudkov’s death, the war continues to exact a heavy toll on civilians and infrastructure. On Thursday, a missile strike on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa killed two people and injured six others. Odesa has remained a consistent target of Russian long-range bombardments, particularly as Ukraine attempts to expand its Black Sea grain corridor.
Earlier in the day, a separate missile strike on the central city of Poltava targeted an army recruitment office. Local authorities confirmed that two people were killed and nearly 50 injured. Ukrainian officials accused Russia of trying to disrupt Kyiv’s ongoing summer mobilization drive, which has seen an uptick in voluntary and conscripted enlistments.
The intensity and frequency of such strikes have led many analysts to argue that both sides are now fully engaged in a high-stakes campaign of attrition — one that seeks to demoralize, disable, and degrade the other’s warfighting potential through selective targeting and symbolic killings.
Gudkov’s death is likely to raise fresh questions about Russia’s ability to secure its own borders amid a conflict that has long since spilled beyond the initial battlefields of eastern Ukraine. For Ukraine and its Western backers, such strikes serve as a reminder of the vulnerabilities in Russia’s military hierarchy — and perhaps as deterrents against deeper aggression.
But the escalatory nature of these operations also risks a dangerous cycle of retaliation. Moscow has repeatedly warned that attacks on Russian territory — particularly those involving Western-supplied weaponry — could provoke broader military responses. Although the U.S. and NATO countries have so far imposed limits on the use of their arms inside Russia, there is growing evidence that Ukrainian forces are exploiting operational gaps to strike across the border with or without allied material.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, may use Gudkov’s death to justify new waves of mobilization or to crack down further on dissent at home. Already, state media has portrayed the general as a martyr of the homeland, and tributes have flooded in from both military officials and politicians calling for vengeance.
Major General Mikhail Gudkov’s death may not shift the overall strategic trajectory of the war — which remains locked in a bloody stalemate with fluid frontlines — but it does highlight how far the war has penetrated into the core structures of the Russian state. What began in 2022 as a conventional invasion has, by 2025, transformed into a complex hybrid war with no frontlines and few rules.
