Ukraine took out a senior Russian general with a Storm Shadow missile nearly 100 miles behind the front line: reports

• Multiple Ukrainian and Russian sources say a top Russian general was killed by a Storm Shadow missile.
• If confirmed, the strike deep in Russian-held territory demonstrates the missile's precision and range.

A senior Russian general has been killed in occupied Ukraine by a UK-supplied Storm Shadow missile, according to multiple Ukrainian and Russian reports.

Lt. Gen. Oleg Tsokov was reportedly killed in the port city of Berdyansk overnight on Tuesday.

Ukrainian officials Anton Geraschenko and Petr Andryushchenko posted reports of the general's death, later echoed by several Russian pro-war social media accounts.

A Ukrainian member of parliament, Yurii Mysyagin, attributed his death to the Storm Shadow missile, according to CNN.

"The British 'Storm Shadow' came to visit accurately," the outlet reported Mysyagin as saying.

Insider could not independently verify the reports.

The Ukrainian and Russian defense ministries have not yet confirmed the reported strike, and did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Tsokov, the deputy commander of Russia's Southern Military District, would be the highest-ranking Russian officer to be killed in the conflict.

According to Andryushchenko, he had already sustained injuries in the war, in September 2022.

Local Telegram channel Berdyansk Today suggested the general died as a result of a Storm Shadow strike on the Duna Hotel, which it said may have been hosting Russian military leadership.

A Storm Shadow strike on Berdyansk would demonstrate the range of Ukrainian missile power, as the site is about 95 miles behind the front line — previously unreachable by heavy air strikes from within Ukraine-held territory.

Ukraine's US-supplied HIMARS, supplied in June 2022, have a range of around 50 miles. But the Storm Shadow, also known as a SCALP missile, is fired from an aircraft and has a post-launch range of about 155 miles.

This represents "an absolute step change in the range of a very capable missile," defense analyst Michael Clarke told Insider.

An undisclosed quantity of Storm Shadow missiles was sent to Ukraine by the UK earlier this year, with France announcing on Tuesday that it would supply Ukraine with additional missiles.