The strike on Donetsk claimed the lives of at least 20 Russian staff officers

At least 20 Russian officers were killed in a missile strike on Donetsk on August 26. Journalists from “Mediazona” identified their names by cross-referencing military unit rosters with government registries and obituaries. According to the publication, this is the largest known number of Russian Army officers killed in a single attack since the start of the full-scale war.

 

On the evening of August 26, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a missile strike on Donetsk, which is under Russian occupation. According to “Mediazona,” among the dead were military personnel who served at the headquarters of the “Center” military group. Specifically, these were the headquarters of the Central Military District and the headquarters of the 41st Combined Arms Army. Eighteen officers were killed that same day, and two more died later from their injuries.

At the time, Denis Pushilin, the occupation leader of Donetsk, reported that the “Donetsk City” shopping center was one of the targets of the attack. According to him, eight people were injured—two children, two women, and four men. He also stated that Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles were used during the strike. Meanwhile, the Russian Telegram channel Exile+ reported that one of the strikes hit a building at 97 Ilyich Avenue. Prior to the full-scale war, the site housed research and industrial facilities.

The Ukrainian Telegram channel “CyberBoroshno” reported that another possible target was an underground parking garage for 600 cars beneath an unfinished residential complex. According to the channel, six missiles struck the site. Ukrainian OSINT projects speculated that both facilities could have been used as command posts by the Russian army. The Exilenova+ channel reported 27 dead and 58 wounded as a result of the strikes. According to this information, two generals were among the seriously wounded. Meanwhile, “Mediazona” separately identified at least 20 of the deceased officers.

How journalists identified the names of the deceased

“Mediazona” had access to personnel rosters from the Central Military District headquarters and the headquarters of the 41st Combined Arms Army. The first list contained 856 military personnel, and the second, 206. The data in these lists is current as of July 2025. In addition to last names, the documents list ranks, positions, and other information about the military personnel.

Journalists compared these lists with the register of inheritance cases and other government databases. They also checked obituaries of high-ranking Russian officers published over the past month. As a result, they were able to identify the names of 20 military personnel who, according to the publication’s findings, were killed following the strike on Donetsk on August 26.

Who Died from the Central Military District Headquarters

According to “Mediazona,” eight military personnel from the Central Military District headquarters were among the dead.

• Artem Berdyugin, 38, colonel. He headed the intelligence planning and coordination department of the intelligence directorate.
• Oleksandr Kalyanov, 50, colonel. He headed the Special Intelligence Division.
• Serhiy Legkyi, 47, colonel. He was deputy chief of the electronic warfare forces.
• Yuriy Zhigalov, 39, lieutenant colonel. He headed the Joint Training and Inter-Service Coordination Section.
• Serhiy Lykov, 37, major. Served as an officer in the Operations Division of the Missile Forces and Artillery Command Headquarters.
• Vyacheslav Latyshev, 41, major. He worked in the Coordination and Directives Section of the Operations Department of the Engineering Troops Command.
• Dmytro Ovcharenko, 34, major. He headed the engineering training section for combined-arms formations and military units.
• Anton Shcherbanev, 36, major. He served in the Intelligence Planning and Coordination Division.

 

Who Died from the 41st Army Headquarters

Eight more of the deceased served at the headquarters of the 41st Combined-Arms Army.

• Sergey Laptev, 48, colonel. He was the head of a department and deputy chief of staff of the operations department.
• Vasyl Latyshev, 55, colonel. He served as chief of staff—deputy commander of the missile forces and artillery.
• Yevgen Tymkin, 39, colonel. He headed the engineering troops department.
• Artem Akimov, 42, lieutenant colonel. He served as deputy commander of the Air Defense Division.
• Andriy Moiseenko, 42, lieutenant colonel. He served as a senior officer in the Operations Division’s Command and Control Section of the Army Headquarters.
• Rustam Fakhrutdinov, 43, lieutenant colonel. He headed intelligence and served as deputy chief of staff for intelligence.
• Oleg Berezovsky, 34, major. He was responsible for information security and protecting data from unauthorized access.
• Kirill Polozkov, 28, Captain. He served in the intelligence department.
• Oleg Golubenko, 26, senior lieutenant. He worked in the intelligence and automated troop command and control systems department.

 

Three more officers

In addition to the military personnel from the headquarters of the Central Military District and the 41st Army, journalists identified the names of three more officers who were killed in the strike. Their exact locations of service at the time of the attack could not be determined.

• Andrei Krestyansky, 51, colonel. He served as a senior instructor-inspector at the Russian Ministry of Defense’s training center for unit commanders.
• Denis Pavlov, 35, lieutenant colonel. His last known place of service was the 15th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
• Viktor Basenko, 46, lieutenant colonel. He previously served as chief of staff for logistics for the 25th Combined-Arms Army.

 

“Mediazona” uncovered other cases of staff officers’ deaths While reviewing documents, journalists found two more instances of mass deaths among staff officers of the 41st Combined Arms Army. These occurred on different dates.

According to the publication, eight officers died on August 4, 2026, and four more on September 8, 2025. Those who died on August 4, 2026:

• Alexei Furzikov, 52, lieutenant colonel. He served as the operations officer on duty and deputy chief of the territorial command center of the 41st Army’s headquarters.
• Sergey Avdeev, 42, lieutenant colonel. He headed the training section of the Missile Forces and Artillery Department.
• Mirza Mirzoev, 29, major. He served as a senior officer in the operations section of the engineering troops department.
• Semyon Bilonozhko, 39, major. He worked in the Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Unit.
• Pavlo Safonov, 36 years old, major. Served in the topographic service of the 41st Army headquarters.
• Serhiy Averin, 39, captain. He was a senior officer in the unmanned systems planning and operations section.
• Mykola Zobnin, 30, captain. He served in the air defense department.
• Alexander Novikov, 34, lieutenant. He worked in the command and control section of the army headquarters’ operations department.

 

Killed on September 8, 2025:

• Sergey Konoplyov, 39, lieutenant colonel. He headed a section of the communications department at the 41st Army headquarters.
• Foat Nazipov, 37, major. He served as an officer in the communications department.
• Andriy Asyutin, 46 years old, major. He headed one of the sections of the Army Headquarters’ Communications Department.
• Alexey Matkov, 33, lieutenant. Served as an officer in the communications department.

 

Thus, Mediazona’s investigation revealed several instances of mass casualties among Russian staff officers. At the same time, the publication describes the strike on Donetsk on August 26 as the largest known incident of Russian army officers killed in a single attack during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

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