Hotel used for Russian top brass blitzed by British Storm Shadow missile killing commanders including top general
A luxury hotel where top Russian executives were being pampered was hit by a British Storm Shadow missile – killing commanders including a senior Putin general.
The blast killed Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, the deputy commander of Russia’s Southern Military District, who was said to be “personally acquainted with Vladimir Putin”.
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Storm Shadow cruise missiles destroyed the entire swimming pool hotel and the reserve command post of the occupying Russian 58th Army.
The dune hotel in the Azov Sea resort of Berdyansk, “beloved” by Russian leaders, was razed to the ground and bodies were still being recovered from the rubble yesterday
Pictures taken before the war show the hotel’s prime beachfront location and pool before it was confiscated by high-level invaders.
A Ukrainian source said yesterday: “The building has indeed been leveled and now the rubble is being sorted out.”
“A lot of ambulances were going that way.”
A local source added: “Many” Russian military personnel were dead and wounded.
Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said: “The Dune Hotel in Berdyansk was on fire…Dozens of Russian military personnel and at least one general burned to the ground at work.”
“Russian media have already confirmed the death of Oleg Tsokov, who commanded rocket attacks in Ukraine.”
It was unclear whether 51-year-old Tsokov was killed at the nearby army command post hotel.
Footage taken shortly after the blast showed a mushroom cloud rising above the ruins of the building – the latest in a series of Storm Shadow targets.
The 620-mile airborne, low-to-ground missiles have a range of up to 320 miles and can be pre-programmed to zigzag at different altitudes before preparing to launch.
Tsokov – who was sanctioned for ordering a civilian attack in Ukraine in December 2022 – is one of a dozen top Putin generals lost so far in the Ukraine war.
The video showed the general addressing Putin at a ceremony in the Kremlin in 2021, praising the tyrant for his “personal… great attention” to fueling Russia’s war machine.