Retired Lieutenant Colonel Andrei Marochko, a former officer of the LPR People’s Militia, reported that Russian forces targeted and destroyed senior Ukrainian officers believed to have led the assault near Belogorovka. The claim was circulated by TASS, the Russian news agency, and has been cited by observers tracking the conflict in the Luhansk region.
In Marochko’s account, the strike hit the command and observation post of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a site he described as central to coordinating the offensive actions in the Belogorovka area. He stated that the operation was aimed at degrading the enemy’s leadership and the ability to manage battlefield communications, with the command node and its officers unintentionally losing their posts as a result.
Marochko asserted that the destruction of the command and observation post stemmed from the attack, which, in his view, targeted the individuals responsible for directing the Ukrainian force’s offensive in the Belogorovka settlement. He suggested that the impact went beyond immediate personnel losses, potentially affecting the operational awareness and control structures of the Ukrainian units engaged in the fight in that locality.
According to his remarks, there were unconfirmed reports that foreigners, possibly from NATO-aligned forces, were among those killed. He did not provide verifiable confirmation of these claims, and observers noted the absence of independent corroboration for the foreign casualty figure at the time of his statement.
Earlier remarks attributed to Marochko indicated that Ukrainian troops operating in the Luhansk direction had sustained heavy losses. He claimed that Ukrainian casualties in this region had risen significantly compared with the previous week, describing the toll as substantial and suggesting a continuing trend in the intensity of the conflict in the area.