Russia’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, has been killed in the Kursk region, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The MoD reported on Telegram: “On July 2, during combat operations in one of the border areas of the Kursk region, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Navy from the Coastal and Ground Forces, Hero of Russia, Major General Mikhail Evgenievich Gudkov, was killed.”
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Initial reports from Russian Telegram channels were later confirmed by Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor of Primorsky Krai.
Gudkov, a former commander of the 155th Separate Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, had been appointed Deputy Navy Chief in March 2025.
He was awarded the title “Hero of Russia” and other state honors and was reportedly praised personally by Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
A native of Ussuriysk and graduate of the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School, Gudkov had taken part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine since the first day, Feb. 24, 2022, commanding Russian forces in the Kherson direction.
Reports have linked him to alleged war crimes against civilians in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
In October 2023, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu personally presented Gudkov with a “Gold Star” medal for “courage and military valor.”
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Although the exact circumstances of his death have not been disclosed, Russian sources suggest Gudkov died along with several senior officers in a missile strike - possibly involving four HIMARS rockets - on a Russian command post in the Sumy direction. One of those killed was reportedly his close associate, Nariman Shikhaliyev.
A memorial portrait of Gudkov has been erected in Vladivostok, where locals have begun laying flowers.
Russian military bloggers speculate that Gudkov was still commanding marine units near the front while holding a senior naval post. Some are circulating claims of internal betrayal, alleging the presence of “traitors” who may have leaked the command post’s location.
Kyiv Post has reached out to Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), but it has not commented on Gudkov’s reported elimination.
This incident is the latest in a string of Ukrainian operations targeting Russian military figures, both in occupied territories and inside Russia.
At the end of May, Ukraine’s military intelligence reported that four officers from Chechnya’s “Akhmat” unit were killed in a car bomb near Skadovsk in occupied Kherson. A second explosion followed, reportedly triggered by ammunition the Chechen troops were transporting.
The Akhmat unit, part of Russia’s National Guard but controlled by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has been active in Ukraine.
In mid-April, Yevgenyi Rytikov, chief engineer at the Bryansk Electromechanical Plant and a key figure in Russia’s electronic warfare program, was killed in a car explosion. Though unclaimed, Ukrainian sources described the strike as “just punishment.”
On April 25, Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, was killed near Moscow when a bomb detonated near his car.
Ukrainian MP Roman Kostenko confirmed Ukrainian intelligence was behind the operation, calling it part of an ongoing strategy that will continue even if a ceasefire is reached. President Zelensky also confirmed Moskalik’s death and credited Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service for eliminating Russian military leaders.
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