‘British Storm Shadow missile’ kills top Putin general in most senior Russian loss since Ukraine counterattack launched

A TOP Russian army general has been killed in Ukraine in the latest blow to Vladimir Putin. Major-General Sergey Goryachev, 52, was struck by a long-range British-supplied Storm Shadow missile in Zaporizhzhia region, according to Moscow war sources.  Major General Sergey Goryachev, 52, has been killed in Ukraineeast2west He was Chief of Staff of the Russian 35th Combined Arms Army, and is one of s suspected 11 generals  reported to have died in the war – the first this year. He appears to have perished  with other senior officers.  Popular Russian war blogger with 1.1 million followers Anatoliy Shariy said that Goryachev was hit by a UK supplied Anglo-French Storm Shadow missile.  “Another hello from the British and French,” he posted.  “He did not die alone.  “There is no information in Russian sources, so most likely we will see details from obituaries.  “[But] along with him, at least eight staff officers died,  [and] several were wounded.” He said Gorbachev died on the Vremievsky Ledge in Zaproizhzhia region.  A Ukrainian expert Mikhail Zhirokhov  told Nastoyashchee Vremya that the general died in a different strike in another region, Kherson, on a military HQ in occupied Ukraine on Saturday.  He claimed it was a major blow to Russia. “Usually, next to a general [there are] colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, who provide headquarters activities [who] die.  “Therefore, such an attack on the command post of the 35th Army before a big [Ukrainian] offensive is a very serious bid for success.” Pictures at the time showed a burning building close to Henichesk on the Arabat Spit, close to annexed Crimea.  Earlier it was revealed that a leading Kremlin crony of Putin’s – deputy PM Denis Manturov, 54, had departed minutes before the strike.  “A Storm Shadow missile hit a few minutes after his departure,” said one report. The facility is believed to have been visited by Putin in April in a rare visit by the president to the war zone.  The missiles have a 155 mile range and are fired from Ukrainian Su-24 war planes.  Russian sources say evidence of the missile parts at the strike site indicate it was a Storm Shadow.  Neither official Russian nor Ukrainian sources have confirmed the circumstances of the general’s reported death.