Three Russian lieutenant colonels killed as Ukraine strikes British Storm Shadow at Kursk
- 17 January, 10:30
At least three Russian lieutenant colonels and five officers were killed as Ukraine fired British Storm Shadow missiles at a military headquarters in Kursk region in late December, Russian media reported on Friday.
The strikes targeted the 76th Airborne Assault Division in Lgov city in Kursk after Ukraine’s resumed offensive on Russia's border region on the night leading to December 31, leading to the death of at least eight officers, Mediazone news outlet reported, citing obituaries published on social media. The killed lieutenant colonels are Pavel Maletsky, the commander of the 656th separate engineer battalion and Alexey Seliverstov who served as chief of the chemical, radiation and biological service division protection and Valery Tereshchenko who held the position of chief of communications in the 76th Airborne Division.
At least 22 senior officers were injured during the Ukrainian missile attack. The attack struck the command post directly, and caused serious disruptions to Russian operations in the area. Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of Kursk region, reported that an apartment building with eight units sustained damage as a result of the strike. In addition, an 86-year-old woman was seriously injured by shrapnel, leading to the amputation of her legs.
This was not the first case of Ukraine's use of western-supplied longer-range missiles in attacks deep into Russia. According to Ukraine's General Staff, Ukrainian troops used such missiles in an attack on a command post of Russia's 810th Naval Infantry Brigade in Belaya on Tuesday.
Ukrainian forces also reportedly used HIMARS to strike a different 810th Naval Infantry Brigade command post near Lgov, Kursk on December 25, killing the brigade's deputy commander and other staff officers. Former US President Joe Biden lifted limit on Ukraine’s use of US-supplied ATACMS long-range missile in November last year.
