Russian general seriously wounded by Ukrainian strike in Kursk

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo of General Esedulla Abachev by Russian Ministry of Defense

General Esedulla Abachev, deputy commander of Russia's Northern group of forces, has been seriously wounded on the front line of the war with Ukraine, a senior official said on Monday.

Abachev comes from Russia's Dagestan region, whose leader Sergei Melikov said on Telegram that he was in a serious but stable condition in "one of the best military medical centres in the country".

Ukrainian military intelligence said on Sunday that Abachev had an arm and a leg amputated after being wounded in a Ukrainian strike on a Russian military column on a highway in the Kursk region of western Russia, and that he was being treated in Moscow. Reuters could not confirm those details.

At least a dozen Russian generals have been killed in the war that started with Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Abachev graduated from the Higher Tank Command School in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of Russia for his role in combat missions during the current war.

Dagestani leader Melikov said he was the pride of the region, describing him as "a combat general and a wise commander who always tries to protect his personnel, sometimes neglecting his own safety".

(Reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London; Editing by Sharon Singleton // REUTERS)