Top Russian commander seriously wounded in Ukrainian strike, Dagestan head says
Lieutenant General Essedoulla Abatchev, deputy commander of Russia’s Leningrad Military District, was "seriously wounded" in one of Russia’s border regions, Dagestan head Sergei Melikov said on Aug. 18.
Abatchev, a native of Dagestan, has held senior military posts in Chechnya and Dagestan and was awarded the title of Hero of Russia by President Vladimir Putin in 2022.
Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) reported on Aug. 17 that Abatchev was injured in a Ukrainian strike on a Russian convoy in Kursk Oblast, which borders Ukraine.
According to the agency, his arm and leg were amputated as a result of the attack.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accused Abatchev in September 2022 of participating in Russia's war of aggression and violating Ukraine's territorial integrity.
A number of senior Russian officers have been killed or wounded since the start of the full-scale invasion. The BBC's Russian service has identified at least 10 generals and 524 colonels and lieutenant colonels killed in the war.
Ukraine has frequently targeted Russian military positions in cross-border strikes. In July, Russia admitted that Colonel Sergei Ilyin, commander of the 155th Marine Brigade, had been killed, reportedly also in a Ukrainian strike on Kursk Oblast.
In August 2024, Ukrainian forces carried out a large-scale incursion into Kursk Oblast, the first foreign military operation on Russian soil since World War II.
Russia retook most of the territory in March 2025 with support from North Korean troops.
