The Ukrainian Armed Forces Killed At Least 20 Russian Officers In A Single Strike
12- 9.10.2026, 16:35
- 13,228
The victims served at the headquarters of the "Center" Army Group.
As a result of a missile strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Donetsk on August 26 at least 20 Russian officers were killed. According to an investigation by "Mediazona", this is the largest known incident involving the deaths of Russian Army officers during the Russia-Ukraine war to date.
Eighteen servicemen were killed on the day of the strike; two more later died from their injuries.
The deceased served at the headquarters of the “Center” military group—the headquarters of the Central Military District and the headquarters of the 41st Combined Arms Army. Journalists identified the names of the deceased by cross-referencing military unit personnel rosters with state registries of inheritance cases and other sources, as well as by reviewing obituaries of high-ranking officers. The personnel lists used were current as of July 2025.
The missile strike took place on the evening of August 26. Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk occupation administration, stated that the “Donetsk City” shopping center was the target. According to him, eight people were injured, including two children and two women. He claimed that Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles were used.
The Telegram channel Exile+ reported that one of the strikes hit a building at 97 Ilyich Avenue, which had housed research and industrial facilities before the war. The Ukrainian channel “CyberBoroshno” reported that another target may have been an underground parking garage with 600 parking spaces beneath an unfinished residential complex, which was allegedly hit by six missiles.
Ukrainian OSINT projects speculated that both sites were being used by the Russian military as command posts. According to Exilenova+, 27 people were killed in the strike, and another 58 were wounded. Among the seriously wounded, as reported, were two generals.
Journalists identified eight officers among the Central Military District headquarters personnel who were killed:
38-year-old Colonel Artem Berdyugin, head of the intelligence planning and coordination department;
50-year-old Colonel Alexander Kalyanov, head of the Special Intelligence Division;
47-year-old Colonel Sergey Legkyi, deputy commander of the electronic warfare forces;
39-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Zhigalov, head of the Joint Training and Inter-Service Coordination Section;
37-year-old Major Sergey Lykov, an officer in the Operations Department of the Missile and Artillery Forces;
41-year-old Major Vyacheslav Latyshev, an officer in the Engineer Corps;
34-year-old Major Dmitry Ovcharenko, head of the engineering training section;
36-year-old Major Anton Shcherbanev, an officer in the intelligence planning and coordination department.
Nine officers were killed at the headquarters of the 41st Combined Arms Army. Among them:
48-year-old Colonel Sergey Laptev, department head and deputy chief of staff of the operations department;
55-year-old Colonel Vasily Latyshev, Chief of Staff of the Missile and Artillery Forces;
39-year-old Colonel Evgeny Timkin, Chief of the Engineer Corps;
42-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Artem Akimov, Deputy Chief of Air Defense Forces;
42-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Moiseenko, senior officer of the Army Headquarters Operations Division;
43-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Rustam Fakhrutdinov, Chief of Intelligence and Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence;
34-year-old Major Oleg Berezovsky, information security officer;
28-year-old Captain Kirill Polozkov, intelligence officer;
26-year-old Senior Lieutenant Oleg Golubenko, an officer in the intelligence and automated troop command and control systems section.
Three other victims served in other units, or their place of service is unknown:
51-year-old Colonel Andrei Krestyansky, senior instructor-inspector at the Ministry of Defense’s Training Center for Command Staff;
35-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Denis Pavlov, whose last known place of service was the 15th Motorized Rifle Regiment;
46-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Basenko, formerly chief of staff for logistics of the 25th Combined Arms Army.
In addition, “Mediazona” has identified two more instances of mass casualties among staff officers of the 41st Army. On August 4, 2026, eight servicemen were killed, and on September 8, 2025, four were killed.
In August 2026, the following died:
52-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Furzikov, operations officer and deputy chief of the territorial command center of the 41st Army headquarters;
42-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Avdeev, head of the missile forces and artillery training department;
29-year-old Major Mirza Mirzoev, senior officer of the engineering troops’ operations section;
39-year-old Major Semyon Belonozhko, an officer in the radiological, chemical, and biological defense forces;
36-year-old Major Pavel Safonov, an officer in the topographic service;
39-year-old Captain Sergey Averin, senior officer of the unmanned systems planning and operations section;
30-year-old Captain Nikolay Zobnin, air defense officer;
34-year-old Lieutenant Alexander Novikov, an officer in the Army Headquarters Operations Division.
The following died in September 2025:
39-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Konoplev, chief of the communications section of the 41st Army headquarters;
37-year-old Major Faat Nazipov, an officer in the communications department;
46-year-old Major Andrei Asyutin, head of the communications department;
33-year-old Lieutenant Alexey Matkov, an officer in the same department.
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