U.S. Marines unload an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System from a C-130 Hercules at Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan, June 6, 2025. (Rodney Frye/Marine Corps)
A Ukrainian strike killed a decorated Russian naval commander in Russia’s Kursk region, officials said Thursday, the latest high-ranking general killed by Ukraine since the war began.
Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov was the deputy commander in chief of the navy and previously led a brigade battling Ukrainian forces.
The Defense Ministry confirmed Thursday that Gudkov died while working in the border area in the Kursk region, near Ukraine. Gudkov was reportedly killed on Tuesday night.
In August, Ukraine led a major operation, capturing and occupying a large part of the Kursk region for nine months until the area was mostly retaken by Russian forces in the spring. Ukrainian forces have since remained on a sliver of land at the border where fighting has continued.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Primorye, a far eastern Russian region, confirmed Gudkov’s death in a statement posted to the Telegram messaging app. Gudkov had commanded the 155th Marine Brigade, which was stationed in Primorye, before being appointed to the leadership of the navy.
The governor, who was personally acquainted with Gudkov, wrote that he died “while performing his duty as an officer together with his fellow soldiers.”
“He was a strong-spirited warrior who did not imagine himself anywhere but the navy,” Kozhemyako wrote. “Having become deputy commander in chief of the navy, he did not stop personally visiting the positions of our marines.”
The governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, also confirmed on Telegram that Gudkov had “tragically died while performing his military duty.”
Gudkov is the latest in a string of high-profile Russian officer deaths since 2022, which include at least 12 major and lieutenant generals. In April, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik was killed by a vehicle explosion in Moscow. In 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed the Russian army’s chemical, biological and nuclear sector, died under similar circumstances. The Security Service of Ukraine took credit for Kirillov’s death.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s intelligence service also took credit for killing Manolis Pilavov, former head of the Luhansk region who was an ideologue of the Russian-backed separatist movement that broke away from Ukraine in 2014. The service said he died in an explosion.
According to Russian news reports, President Vladimir Putin appointed Gudkov to the post of deputy commander at the end of March during a visit to the Arkhangelsk nuclear cruiser.
In fall 2023, Gudkov, who then held the rank of colonel, was awarded the “Hero of Russia” medal “for courage, heroism and skillful command of subordinate formations” in the combat zone.
Before the official announcement of Gudkov’s death, a local Russian news outlet in Kursk reported that 12 servicemen from the 155th Marine Brigade had been killed in a missile strike on their headquarters.
Ukrainian forces have made good use of U.S.-supplied advanced missiles fired from the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, but effective munitions such as these could soon disappear from the battlefield if they are included in the Pentagon’s recently announced review in military aid.
The United States said it was pausing the delivery of previously promised military equipment to Ukraine, including, according to reports, air defense and missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated his support of the U.S. halting military aid as the Russian summer offensive against Ukraine gets underway.
“The fewer rockets are delivered from abroad to Ukraine, the closer to the end of the military operation,” he said Thursday. Mary Ilyushina, Lizzie Johnson and Serhii Korolchuk contributed to this report.
