Details of elimination of General Gudkov and headquarters of 155th Brigade: Russia accuses Generals Gerasimov and Akhmedov of leaking information on rival

Author: Yurii Butusov

On July 2, the Armed Forces of Ukraine delivered one of the most powerful strikes against Russian military command during the entire war. In the village of Korenovo, Kursk region, approximately 17 km from the front line, Ukrainian intelligence detected significant Russian military activity and movement. The strike on the Russian concentration exceeded all expectations.

It turned out that in Korenovo, the enemy had deployed a forward command post of its most combat-ready unit in this direction the 155th Marine Brigade, for an offensive on the Sumy region. Moreover, from this very post, the actual commander of the Russian strike group in the Kursk area was directing the Russian offensive, Major General Mikhail Gudkov, Deputy Commander of the Russian Navy, known by the call sign "Varyag."

The list of Russian officers eliminated in Korenovo, confirmed so far from Russian sources:

• Deputy Commander of the Russian Navy – Commander of the Navy’s Coastal and Ground Forces, Major General M. Gudkov;
• Deputy Commander of the Navy’s Coastal and Ground Forces, Colonel N. Shikhaliyev;
• Commander of the 155th Marine Brigade, Colonel S. Ilyin;
• Chief of Staff of the 155th Brigade, Colonel L. Bashkadin;
• Commander of the 1st Battalion, 155th Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel I. Zakirov.

Simultaneously eliminated were:

• Chief of Brigade Artillery;

• Chief of Brigade Air Defense;

• Chief of Brigade Communications;

• Chief of Brigade UAV Operations.

Alongside the heads of services, most of their assistants were also killed. Total casualties amounted to approximately 20 killed and 30 wounded servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces.

So, the headquarters of the Russian Marine Brigade and the leadership of the strike group and Naval Infantry ground forces were completely eliminated, paralyzing the Russian offensive in this direction of the front for some time. Command and control of troops in the area were lost.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Gudkov has directed Ukrainian missiles at his own headquarters.

On February 27, 2024, Gudkov organized a formation of servicemen from the 155th Brigade in the village of Olenivka, Donetsk region, to personally award his best fighters and commanders. Two HIMARS rockets struck the parade ground, killing 19 Russian occupiers and wounding 12. Gudkov himself was among the wounded but survived. The deputy commander of the 155th Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel R. Kozhukhov, along with other brigade officers, was killed. And now, all the criminal commanders have been taken out in one salvo.

The 42-year-old Gudkov was personally appointed to this position by the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in March 2025. Before that, he commanded the very same 155th Marine Brigade. It was Putin who tasked him with raising the combat readiness of all Russian Naval Infantry forces. The 155th Brigade became notorious for its war crimes, from the very start of the war, Gudkov ordered executions of civilians in Bucha, Irpin, and Hostomel, where the 155th Brigade was active at the time. Later, Gudkov openly promoted war crimes; his brigade and affiliated bloggers repeatedly posted videos of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Gudkov did this deliberately to force his soldiers not to surrender, fearing Ukrainian reprisals. Gudkov himself, of course, never went into attacks and never came closer than 15–20 km to the front line. But Ukrainians learned to punish Russian criminals for looting, banditry, and shootings, and Gudkov could not escape justice. He was taken out along with the entire brigade headquarters that carried out orders to kill civilians and prisoners.

Equally interesting as Gudkov’s elimination itself is the political resonance and information battles between supporters of Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov and his opponents.

Putin promoted Gudkov to a position far above any other Russian brigade commander, and from this post, Gudkov could very likely have become a rival to Valery Gerasimov for the position of Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. But now, that will no longer happen. According to Aleksei Romanov, Russian Z-blogger and critic of Gerasimov, Sukhrab Akhmedov has been appointed as the acting commander of the Coastal and Ground Forces of the Pacific Fleet, who is fully loyal to Gerasimov and reportedly had a bad relationship with Gudkov. Romanov thus directly implied that Gerasimov himself leaked the information about Gudkov’s location to the Ukrainians.

Ed.note: Translation of the text shown in the photo from Russian to English

"Summary, since the death of Varyag, Sukhrab Akhmetov:

1. Immediately took his place as Deputy Commander of the Navy (so far with the acting title);

2. Got the position of commander of the 155th brigade, a person loyal to him (whom Varyag had, to put it mildly, a negative attitude towards);

3. Received the Hero’s Star (for the "Kursk operation"?), as well as immunity from questions from the military counterintelligence department. And those questions do exist.

/If someone says this is a coincidence, the channel’s author will immediately agree. The channel’s author always believes in coincidences. And in pink unicorn ponies."

In response, Gerasimov’s supporter and Russia’s chief propagandist Vladimir Solovyov accused several bloggers close to Gudkov, including Vladimir Hrubnik, of supplying the 155th Brigade with a batch of radio stations that allowed Ukrainians to access their communication system.

Ed.note: Translation of the text shown in the photo from Russian to English

"After the arrival of a NATO missile at the command post of the 155th Guards Marine Brigade of the Pacific Fleet, our suspicions increased.

Just search for the channel #Grubnik "Ghost of Novorossiya" and we are convinced that phantom workshops supplied the brigade quite well.

We hope our counterintelligence will be interested in who learned the codes and frequencies of the radios handed over? What software was installed on the computers? What hardware is inside the devices transmitted by the former Odessa "underground member" to our military?

We would like to break the chain "radio handover, group photo, friend’s death, funeral wreath."

Be that as it may, the enemy has not been able to identify the source of the information leak. All servicemen of the Defense Forces of Ukraine who eliminated the high-ranking war criminals and dealt such a severe blow to the enemy deserve the highest honors.

Yurii Butusov, Censor. NET