Russian admiral ‘seriously injured’ after missile hits navy HQ | World News

Senior Russian commanders have been left ‘seriously injured’ after Ukrainian missiles struck Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters.

Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk and Lieutenant General Oleg Tsekov were ‘seriously wounded’ when Storm Shadow missiles hit the Navy HQ in Sevastopol, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.

At least nine military personnel were killed and 16 wounded in the attack.

‘Among the wounded is the commander of the group, Colonel-General Alexander Romanchuk, in a very serious condition,’ the spymaster told Voice of America.

‘The Chief of Staff, Lieutenant-General Oleg Tsekov, is unconscious.

‘The number of injured regular servicemen who are not employees of the headquarters is still being determined.

‘These are military personnel who are on duty, security, and so on — they are not included in the list that I announced.’

‘Romanchuck is in charge Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia, where the main thrustof Ukraine’s counteroffensive is occurring,’ Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Police Research Institute tweeted

Footage shows the moment the second missile struck the already-burning building.

Some reports say Black Sea Fleet commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov was also hit and killed, but there has been no confirmation.

There were suggestions he was ‘missing’.

Russia has refrained from giving details on the killed and wounded, with state news bulletins failing to mention the humiliating strike in annexed Crimea.

Russian air defences were again today at work in and around Sevastopol, the main naval port in the peninsula.

Romanchuk is commander of Russian forces in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, and was promoted to the rank of colonel-general in 2023.

Tsekov is the commander of the 200th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, part of the Coastal Forces of the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy.

Smoke was seen billowing out the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in the port of Sevastopol shortly after explosions were heard.

Photos of the aftermath appeared to show a crater in an upper level of the building’s rear where the roof had been caved in.

People in the nearby city centre reportedly saw missiles fly overhead moments before the blast, with footage showing smoke visible from a busy high street.

Russian officials, who have ruled the peninsula since it was illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, urged locals to ‘head to shelters if you hear the siren’ while firefighters worked to contain the blaze.

Russian war cheerleaders are demanding reprisal attacks on Ukrainian command posts

Rybar Telegram channel warned: ‘As long as there are no strikes on control and command centres, the intensity of the AFU attacks will increase.

‘Meanwhile, in Kyiv, the work of all Ukrainian structures responsible for regular raids, such as the GUR and the SBU [intelligence services] , is proceeding without interruption.”

War analyst Sergei Mardan, a columnist for Komsomolskaya Pravda, said: ‘The strike to the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol is a crushing blow to the entire Russian elite, which is seriously committed to freezing the conflict in the autumn of 2023.

‘They still don’t want to fight. They agree to any, the most shameful conditions of a truce.

‘They still consider [the start of war on] February 24, 2022 a catastrophic mistake by Putin and intend to do everything to convince him of this.

‘They see a limited military defeat of Russia as the ideal way.’

He claimed this was the wrong route for Russia.

‘Our enemies will force us to fight, if only because they do not agree to a ‘limited’ defeat.

‘They intend to defeat the Russian army and bring the Russian government to its knees.’

Budanov declined to confirm Russian claims that Storm Shadow missiles – provided to Kyiv by Britain and France – had been used to the fleet HQ.

‘Here I have to refrain from answering, I think you should understand me,’ he said.

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