Putin suffers major blow as colonel guarding top secret base killed in UK-supplied missile strike

A colonel who deserted from Ukraine to Russia was killed in a British-supplied Storm Shadow missile strike on the top secret air defence base he commanded in annexed Crimea, it's been confirmed.

Lt-Col Alexander Kulakov, 38, died with a comrade in the Ukrainian strike on military unit No. 85683, a key Russian long-range reconnaissance and targeting station. The Russian armed forces have not admitted the loss, nor publicly acknowledged the damage to the key listening post.

But an obituary confirmed the death, pictured for the first time. He had deserted from Ukrainian forces when Vladimir Putin invaded Crimea in 2014.

The strike this week is believed to have caused significant damage to the secret air defence base which is part of the 3rd Radio Engineering Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces.

‌Kulakov’s death in the strike was confirmed by Mayor of Alushta, Galina Ogneva, in an obituary coinciding with his funeral. He “heroically died…as a result of a missile attack on Crimea,” she said.

“The courage and bravery of Alexander [Kulakov] evoked pride in everyone who knew him. His name will forever remain in our hearts….Eternal memory to the Hero who gave his life for the safety and future of our Crimea.”

‌In Ukraine, he was branded a deserter and traitor. Mirotvorets website which lists “enemies of Ukraine” said: "Kulakov switched to the side of the Russian aggressors, accepted Russian citizenship, and entered the service of the occupiers.”

He was wanted under the Ukrainian criminal code. The giant golf-ball domes at Ai-Petri are used for long-range reconnaissance and air defence guidance, crucial to the Russian military. Storm Shadow missiles are supplied to Ukraine by Britain and France.

It comes amidst Putin's latest warning to the West during his visit to China this week. The tyrant had a back-handed rebuke for the US, and others who oppose the Moscow-Beijing relationship, saying an "emerging multipolar world... is now taking shape before our eyes.

"And it is important that those who are trying to maintain their monopoly on decision-making in the world on all issues ... do everything in their power to ensure that this process goes naturally."

The Kremlin said on Saturday that Russian forces had captured the village of Starytsia in the Kharkiv region as part of a ground offensive in the area, off the back of 12 other settlements being seized in the region over the past week.