A top Russian general was rushed to hospital and had to undergo amputations after a devastating attack by Ukraine, Kyiv’s military intelligence agency claims. Lieutenant General Esedulla Abachev reportedly suffered serious injuries after Ukrainian forces struck a Russian vehicle column.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claimed the attack happened on Saturday on the Rylsk-Khomutovka highway in Russia’s Kursk region where Ukrainian forces launched a counter-offensive last summer. It said Lt Gen Abachev, Deputy Commander of Russia’s North Group of Forces, was “urgently” airlifted to a hospital in Moscow. In a post on Telegram, the GUR said: “As a result of his injuries, Abachev had his arm and leg amputated.
“The GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reminds that there will be fair retribution for every war crime against the Ukrainian people!”
Lt Gen Abachev, 57, has reportedly served in almost every Russian conflict in recent decades.
He has personally been awarded the Order of Courage by Vladimir Putin, according to evocation.info, and been involved in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since it started in February 2022, commanding the 2nd Army Corps of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic”.
Ukrainian sources have linked him to war crimes against civilians in Lysychansk, Luhansk region, according to the Kyiv Post.
A pro-Moscow source told The Sun that the general was alive but in a “serious condition [after] traumatic amputation of the arm and part of the leg”.
Footage shared online, believed to be the scene of the attack which injured Lt Gen Abachev, shows at least three damaged and burned Russian transport vehicles.
Several senior Russian officers have been hit by Ukraine during the war.
Last month, Moscow’s defence ministry confirmed the deputy head of the Russian navy had been killed in a strike in Kursk, close to the Ukrainian border.