Ukrainian Forces struck a column of Russian troops in the Kursk region, leaving Lt. Gen. Esedulla Abachev, deputy commander of the North Group of Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, seriously wounded.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported that the strike took place early in the morning of Aug. 17 on the Rylsk-Khomutovka highway.
Abachev was urgently airlifted to the Vishnevsky Central Clinical Hospital in Moscow, where doctors amputated his arm and leg.
“HUR reiterates that for every war crime against the Ukrainian people, there will be just retribution,” the intelligence agency said.
Ukrainian Telegram channels have already circulated footage allegedly showing the destruction of the Russian column during which Abachev was injured.
According to evocation.info outlet, Abachev graduated from the Kharkiv Higher Tank Command School in 1989 and went on to participate in multiple Kremlin-backed military operations.
“He took part in every Kremlin-led military operation: the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the Second Chechen War, Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, and the terrorist campaign in Syria. For each of these ‘bloody feats,’ Abachev was personally awarded the Order of Courage by Putin,” the report said.
Since Feb. 24, 2022, Abachev has taken part in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, commanding the 2nd Army Corps of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic.”
Ukrainian side links him to war crimes against civilians in Lysychansk, Luhansk region.
In August 2024, amid intensified Ukrainian operations along the border with Russia, Abachev was appointed commander of Russia’s border-cover group in the Kursk direction.
Meanwhile, in a separate operation in occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, on Aug. 16, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Russian ammunition depot and military personnel recently transferred to the area.
According to HUR, the explosion occurred as a Russian truck with personnel arrived at a deployment point in the city’s industrial zone.
Preliminary data indicates at least six Russian marines and members of the “Akhmat-Vostok” Chechen unit were eliminated.
The detonation triggered secondary explosions, and four Russian ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
Ukrainian intelligence said the operation dealt a significant blow to Russian logistics and manpower in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
Russia’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov, was killed in early July reportedly during a missile strike on a Russian command post in the Kursk region.
Gudkov, a “Hero of Russia” personally praised by Putin, previously commanded the 155th Marine Brigade and took part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from day one. He had recently been appointed Deputy Navy Chief in March 2025.
Though the exact circumstances were unclear, Russian sources said Gudkov died alongside several senior officers in a HIMARS strike, with speculation of an internal leak.
His death follows a series of Ukrainian strikes on high-ranking Russian figures, including the April elimination of Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik near Moscow and multiple targeted attacks on officers in occupied territories.