Russian general killed days after being awarded Hero of Russia for disputed claim

A Russian general who had been decorated as a Hero of Russia following false claims of capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka was killed in a drone strike, Ukrainian officials confirmed. Major General Anton Grunis died on Saturday in eastern Ukraine, making him the seventh Russian military commander eliminated by Ukrainian drone forces under the command of Robert Brovdi.

The award, bestowed in late August, was based on reports that Grunis personally gave to President Vladimir Putin earlier this year, in which he claimed his troops had seized the city. Putin publicly praised Grunis for “doing the work.” However, analysts and the US-based Institute for the Study of War state that Russian forces have only infiltrated parts of Kostiantynivka rather than fully capturing it, describing the Kremlin’s narrative as part of a broader information campaign to suggest the Ukrainian front lines are collapsing. Apti Alaudinov, another Russian commander, subsequently posted confirmation of Grunis’s death.

Separately, Russian airstrikes damaged buildings in Kyiv and injured three people, including a child, in Odesa in the early hours of Thursday. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported that debris struck warehouses and areas near a petrol station in the capital.

On Wednesday, Russian drones struck a passenger bus near the frontline city of Nikopol, killing five people and wounding seven others. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack as having “no military logic” and called it “another act of brutality.” Additionally, Russian drones attacked a passenger train in southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region three times; while passengers and crew were evacuated, no injuries were reported. A locomotive was also hit in Kovel, near the Polish border.

Violence continued across other regions, with Russian shelling killing one person in Kherson and another in Odesa. More than a dozen people were injured in attacks on Sumy and Kropyvnytskyi. In the Donetsk region, held by Moscow-backed forces, a Ukrainian drone strike killed one individual, while six people were wounded in the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Investigations are underway after a Russian Gerbera-2 drone armed with explosives was recovered from the sea near Poland’s northwestern coast. Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz stated the drone, likely lost during test maneuvers, was found near the village of Rusinowo. Military prosecutors are examining whether to pursue legal action against Russia for endangering lives and damaging property of significant value.

Russia has extended a ban on diesel exports until the end of October, citing domestic fuel shortages exacerbated by Ukrainian strikes on refineries. Recent reports indicate that three of Russia’s six largest diesel-producing refineries significantly cut or halted output in September due to drone damage. Specifically, Rosneft-owned refineries in Syzran and Saratov on the Volga River have stopped processing oil.

Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defence paid tribute to Major Paul Wilks, a 40-year-old intelligence officer who died in a road accident in Ukraine on Saturday. Commissioned from Sandhurst in 2012, Wilks was described by colleagues as a man of “great intellect” and one of the most talented intelligence officers of his generation. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting stated Wilks served with pride and dedication. He is the second British service member to die in Ukraine since December, when Paratrooper George Hooley was killed.