A Russian military officer was killed in a bomb attack on Thursday in Russian-annexed Crimea, and a woman was arrested on suspicion of assassinating him on behalf of Ukrainian special services, the regional governor said.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Several unofficial Russian Telegram channels named the victim as Robert Shageyev, whom they described as a former Ukrainian naval officer who switched allegiance to Russia during Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. They said he had been commanding the Ukrainian submarine Zaporizhzhia at the time.
Myrotvorets, an unofficial Ukrainian website that provides a database of people described as war criminals or traitors, said Shageyev had been “liquidated”. The attack took place in Sevastopol, the biggest city in Russian-annexed Crimea. The regional governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, did not identify the victim or the suspect.
State news agency TASS quoted the FSB security service as saying the arrested woman was a Russian national. Russia has blamed Ukraine for a string of previous assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to Moscow’s war effort. Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility in some cases, while denying others. Separately, Razvozhayev said five people were killed in Sevastopol overnight during an operation to dispose of an explosive device.
