Ukraine claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russian Black Sea Fleet officer in annexed Crimea on Wednesday, saying it had organized a “special operation” by its security services (SBU) to “liquidate” a “war criminal.” “.
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This is a “successful special operation by the SBU,” a source within this structure told AFP. “As a result of the explosion, the Russian captain had his legs torn off and died of hemorrhage,” she continued.
This assassination in Sevastopol, a large city on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia and headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet, is the latest in a series of attacks by Kyiv targeting Russian officers and pro-Kremlin figures, too. both in occupied Ukrainian territory and inside Russia.
The slain officer was “a war criminal who ordered the launch of cruise missiles from the Black Sea on civilian targets in Ukraine,” and represented “an absolutely legitimate target,” the SBU source argued.
This identified the man as Valery Trankovsky, one of the leaders of a Russian brigade of missile ships.
He was notably involved in a missile strike against Vinnytsia, a town in west-central Ukraine, which killed around thirty civilians, the Ukrainian source said.
Russian authorities had announced the soldier’s death a little earlier.
The officer “was killed today in the Gagarin district of Sevastopol, following the explosion of an improvised explosive device attached under the vehicle,” according to a statement from the Investigative Committee of Russia which opened investigations for “terrorist act”.
“The people involved (…) are being identified,” according to the same source.
“Inside the vehicle was its driver, he was quickly evacuated and transferred to doctors,” “but they failed to save him. He died of his wounds. The victim is a soldier,” the governor of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvojaïev, previously detailed on Telegram.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, which was not recognized by the international community.
The peninsula’s courts regularly hand down heavy sentences against residents of Crimea, accused of being agents of kyiv and convicted of acts of “espionage”, “treason”, “collaboration”, or “sabotage” on behalf of the Ukrainians.
Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, claiming annexation of other Ukrainian regions.
