According to a report by Global Times on July 3, Mikhail Gudkov, a deputy commander of the Russian Navy and a major general, was killed in Kornevo village, Kursk region, near the Russia-Ukraine border, in a precise "decapitation" operation conducted by the Ukrainian military using U.S.-made long-range weapons.

The Russian Ministry of Defense later confirmed the death of this senior commander.

Gudkov, who is 42 years old, was a newly promoted major general by Putin in March this year. Previously, he served as the commander of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet and was awarded the title of Hero of Russia for his active performance at the front line.

This is the tenth confirmed case of a high-ranking Russian officer killed in combat or special operations since the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia war.

The Russian authorities stated that Gudkov died heroically during a border mission, but the Ukrainian intelligence agency emphasized that it was a premeditated targeted elimination.

Mikhail Gudkov's photo

As to why Gudkov was hit in a relatively safe rear area, multiple Russian Telegram channels reported that at that time, it was a festival in the Far East, and several Russian marines stationed in the Kursk region were calling their families, who were far away in Vladivostok,

This behavior ultimately exposed the location of the entire field command post.

After intercepting the relevant signals, the Ukrainian forces quickly identified the area and launched an attack with U.S.-made ATACMS missiles.

A single missile strike resulted in the immediate death of Gudkov and his accompanying staff officers.

An analysis of the current situation suggests that the Ukrainian forces not only knew Gudkov's exact whereabouts, but also almost precisely timed the meeting of the command conference. This kind of second-by-second attack method likely involves the synchronization of multiple intelligence sources.

Ukrainian-Russia battlefield

From the entire incident, it can be seen that the Russian military has serious systemic problems in battlefield communications, personnel management, and information security.

Firstly, the command system highly relies on traditional models, leading to a large number of key decisions needing to be made by the high-level commanders on the front lines, which frequently expose the high-level movements.

Another issue is that the grassroots soldiers lack awareness of modern battlefield signal warfare and still habitually use mobile phones, video calls, and posting photos on social media at the front lines, making it easy for Ukraine or its Western allies to capture information through electronic surveillance systems.

Being struck because of calling family members, being decapitated because the generals went to the front lines—such incidents have occurred more than once in the past three years.

However, the Russian side has still failed to implement effective communication restrictions on the soldiers, showing its extremely slow adaptation to modern information warfare.

Additionally, this killing operation once again indicates that the Ukrainian military, with Western intelligence and weapon support, has already developed a very high capability for remote precision decapitation of Russian mid-to-high level commanders—just at the end of June, the Ukrainians had already decapitated a Russian acting division commander.

Ukrainian-Russia battlefield

From the root cause, it is still the old Soviet style—senior commanders still like to hold meetings and issue orders close to the frontline, lacking basic awareness of the high-risk environment of modern warfare.

This traditional style of establishing command posts at the front and having everyone sit at a table to discuss matters, once discovered, becomes a total loss. It is said that more than ten soldiers died in this incident.

The battlefield situation has already shown that a missile strike can destroy an entire operational command structure, but the Russian side apparently still has not formed an effective response mechanism.

This outdated military style reflects the underestimation of modern warfare tools, and after more than three years of fighting, they are still making such fatal mistakes, similar to Iran.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7523046248027488807/

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