The deputy commander of Russia's Southern Military District is among the dead today after a British-supplied long-range cruise missile struck the occupied city of Berdiansk in southeastern Ukraine.
Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov's death makes him the highest-ranking Russian general to be killed in action in Vladimir Putin's invasion. (RELATED: Anti-Putin Forces Planning Future Raids Inside Russia)
Some intelligence analysts estimate Russia has lost 20 generals and admirals of varying ranks in 500 days of fighting.
As CNN reports:
“It is reported that today, in the area of Berdiansk, Russian Lieutenant General Tsokov Oleg Yurievich was killed,” said Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boichenko. The mayor does not currently reside in Mariupol, which is under Russian control.
“In September 2022, he [Tsokov] was already injured, but he survived,” Andriushchenko said, adding that now the Russian commander's death “is completed.”
The attack Tsokov survived involved a HIMARS rocket salvo that devastated a meeting of Russian staff officers, conveyed at Tsokov's request to plan strategic withdraws as Ukrainian troops advanced on Lyman, a critical railway junction.
Another Ukrainian official, Yurii Mysyagin, who is a member of Ukraine's parliament, also commented on the commander's death.
“In the South, in the area of occupied Berdiansk, on July 11, 2023, Russian Lieutenant General Oleg Yurievich Tsokov was killed,” Mysyagin said. “The British ‘Storm Shadow' [missile] came to visit accurately,” he added without elaborating further. In May, the UK delivered the Storm Shadows, long-range cruise missiles with stealth capabilities that were jointly developed by the UK and France.
Since August 2022, Tsokov commanded the 144th Motorized Rifle Division. He was promoted to lieutenant general earlier this year.
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