Major General Mikhail Gudkov, the deputy head of the Russian Navy who also led a brigade fighting against Ukraine, has been killed in Russia's Kursk region, Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of a far eastern Russian region,

Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov is one of the highest-ranking Russian commanders killed in the war. His death comes as the U.S. seeks to pause military aid to Ukraine.

Maj. Gen. Mikhail Gudkov, promoted to deputy head of the Russian Navy just a few months earlier, died in an apparent Ukrainian strike.