Ukraine has demonstrated the ability to accurately target Russian senior officers—both on the battlefield and far away from the front lines.
In almost four years of combat, the Russian forces have lost approximately 1.2 million troops killed and wounded in Ukraine. Most of these casualties are “grunts,” professional soldiers, unlucky reservists, pardoned criminals, and foreign mercenaries serving on the front lines.
However, the Ukrainian military and intelligence services have managed to kill an impressive number of senior Russian officers, both on the battlefield and inside Russia. Typically, officers are safer than enlisted men and non-commissioned officers because their job is not to engage the enemy in combat, but rather to place their unit at the right position, coordinate fire and air support, and manage the fight. This requires officers to keep a certain distance from the front lines—and in general, the more senior the officer, the greater the distance.
Nevertheless, given the way that drones and missiles have compressed the battlefield and given both sides the ability to strike beyond the line of contact, Russia has suffered appalling losses to its officer corps since the initial invasion. Estimates put the number of Russian officers killed at more than 5,000 since the start of the war, with around one in ten having the rank of lieutenant colonel or higher. A common thread in the senior officers killed is their alleged involvement in war crimes against Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, prompting retaliation from Ukraine’s highly efficient intelligence services. Kyiv is specifically targeting any Russian officer with involvement in the killing of civilians or execution of prisoners.
Thus far, the most senior Russian officers killed in the ongoing war have been:
10. Major General Mikhail Gudkov
In July, the Ukrainian forces killed Guards Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov in the Kursk Oblast, Russia. Gudkov was the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. He also led the 155th brigade in Ukraine earlier in the war. The Kremlin verified his death, stating that he was killed while fighting in Kursk. The Ukrainian military launched a successful foray into Russia in Kursk Oblast in the summer of 2024.
The Ukrainian government had accused Gudkov of facilitating war crimes in Bucha, Irpin, and Gostomel.
9. Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky
Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky was the first senior Russian military officer to be killed in the war. Sukhovetsky had been the deputy commander of the 41st Army and an officer in Russia’s VDV airborne forces, which occupied Kyiv’s Hostomel airport in the opening hours of the conflict, only to be driven back.
The circumstances of Sukhovetsky’s death are still disputed. Some reports claim that he was killed at Hostomel airport on February 28, 2022, only four days after the war had begun. Other claims placed him in the military convoy that advanced from Belarus toward Kyiv in the early days of the conflict, only to be stuck and picked apart by Ukrainian aerial attacks. According to those reports, Sukhovetsky left his vehicle and advanced to the front of the column to ask why it was not moving, where he was shot by a sniper.
8. Major General Vladimir Frolov
Another Major General, Vladimir Frolov, was killed by a Ukrainian sniper on April 16, 2022, in the battle for Mariupol. The southern Ukrainian town was a strategic goal for the Russian forces in their attempt to create a land bridge between Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula.
The Russian military spent weeks trying to curb the Ukrainian resistance in and around Mariupol. After a months-long siege—the latter part of which was defined by conflict around the enormous “Azovstal” steel plant complex, where Ukrainian defenders mounted a last stand—the city fell to Russia on May 20, 2022.
At the time Frolov was killed, he was the deputy commander of the 8th Guards Army. The Russian government even released postage stamps with Frolov’s image after his death.
7. Major General Kanamat Botashev
Another one-star general, Maj. Gen. Kanamat Botashev, was killed on May 22, 2022, while flying a combat sortie over the eastern part of the Luhansk Oblast. He was flying a Sukhoi Su-25 Flanker attack jet when a Ukrainian soldier shot him out of the sky with an FIM-92 Stinger anti-aircraft missile.
Botashev had retired from the Russian Army, but was serving in Ukraine as a mercenary pilot for Russia’s infamous Wagner Group paramilitary group. Botashev’s death took place roughly one year before Wagner mutinied against the Russian government, leading to a settlement and eventually to the death of Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin.
6. Major General Sergei Goryachev
Maj. Gen. Sergei Goryachev was killed on June 12, 2023, in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine. Goryachev was killed by a Ukrainian Storm Shadow cruise missile as part of the large-scale Ukrainian summer counteroffensive. At the time of his death, Goryachev was serving as the chief of staff of the 35th Army.
5. Major General Pavel Klimenko
Maj. Gen. Pavel Klimenko was killed on November 6, 2024, near Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk Oblast. The senior Russian officer was killed by a Ukrainian suicide drone near a checkpoint.
At the time of his death, Klimenko was serving as the commander of the 5th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade. After his death, the Kremlin awarded Klimenko the “Hero of the Russian Federation” award.
4. Lieutenant General Roman Kutuzov
Lt. Gen. Roman Kutuzov was killed on June 5, 2022, in Mykolaivka during the battle for the town of Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine. At the time, he was a colonel commanding the 1st Army Corps of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, a pro-Russian separatist force. He was promoted to lieutenant general posthumously.
Interestingly, the deceased Russian officer shared the same last name as a Russian hero, Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, who tried to stop Napoleon Bonaparte’s advance into Russia in the Battle of Borodino in 1812.
3. Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov
Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov was killed on July 11, 2023 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southern Ukraine, during a Ukrainian missile strike on the command and control post of the 58th Combined Arms Army in the port city of Berdyansk. At the time of his death, Tsokov was serving as the Deputy Commander of the Russian military’s Southern Military District.
2. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov is one of the most senior Russian officers killed in the conflict. Kirillov was assassinated on December 17, 2024, in Moscow, as he was exiting his apartment building. According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, its intelligence services planted a bomb in an electric scooter outside the apartment. Video footage showed the scooter exploding as Kirillov approached.
At the time of his death, Kirillov was the Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, Radiological, and Chemical units. Kyiv had accused him of war crimes, specifically the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
1. Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik
Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik was killed on April 25, 2025, in Balashikha near Moscow. The senior Russian officer was killed by a car bomb, the work of the Ukrainian intelligence services. At the time of his death, Moshalik was serving as the Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Shutterstock / Andrei Stepanov.
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