The deputy head of the Russian Navy has been killed near the Ukrainian border, the Russian military has confirmed.

Major General Mikhail Gudkov, appointed by President Vladimir Putin to the senior naval post in March, was killed during what Russia’s defence ministry described as “combat work” in the western Kursk region, which borders Ukraine’s Sumy region. The ministry gave no further details about the operation.

Last summer Ukraine launched a surprise offensive in Kursk. While its troops have mostly been driven out, in June Kyiv said it was still holding onto small areas of the region.

Gudkov’s death is one of the most high-profile losses for Moscow since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of the Primorsky region in Russia’s Far East, ten others were also killed in the incident.

Kozhemyako made the announcement on Telegram, where he described Gudkov as a loyal officer who died “carrying out his duty”.

Unconfirmed reports from Russian and Ukrainian military-linked Telegram channels suggest the deaths were the result of a Ukrainian missile strike on a Russian command post near the town of Korenevo, around 30km (19 miles) from the border.

Ukraine has not officially commented on the attack – consistent with its usual policy of not confirming targeted strikes on Russian territory.

Gudkov had previously commanded the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, a unit involved in heavy fighting across eastern Ukraine and later in the Kursk region itself.

Footage from the far eastern city of Vladivostok, home to Russia’s Pacific Fleet, showed mourners laying flowers at a makeshift memorial to Gudkov, who received the Gold Star medal of Hero of Russia in late 2023. He was seen receiving the honour from President Putin at a Kremlin ceremony in February.

Ukraine has not acknowledged involvement in Gudkov’s death.

However sources within Ukrainian security services have previously told the media, including the BBC, that they were behind similar targeted strikes, such as the killing of Gen Igor Kirillov in December 2024.

Earlier this year, General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow – an incident the Kremlin also blamed on Kyiv. At the time Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of “continuing its involvement in terrorist activities inside our country”.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there have been several high-level assassination plots on both sides.

Last year the Ukrainian security service (SBU) said it foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking Ukrainian officials.

At the start of the war, the Ukrainian leader said he was Russia’s “number one target”.

Meanwhile, officials in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa said two people were killed and six injured in a missile strike on the port on Thursday.

Earlier, strikes on the central city of Poltava targeting an army recruitment centre killed two people and wounded nearly 50 others, authorities said.