A Russian naval captain has been assassinated on his morning run after being hunted down using a fitness tracker app.
Stanislav Rzhitskiy was found with four bullet wounds in his back near the Olimp sports complex in Krasnodar, southern Russia, according to reports.
His death was said to be payback for a brutal Kalibr missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia nearly a year ago that he allegedly commanded. The submarine he controlled attacked the city several times last year and the deadliest strike killed 28 people.
Russian investigators believe Rzhitsky's running route was tracked by a jogging app he used and that the timing of the killing was linked to the upcoming first anniversary of the Kalibr attack on July 15.
A screenshot from his profile on Strava last week maps out a 14-minute jog in the Russian city of Krasnodar.
Among the 27 victims of the submarine missile bombardment was four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who was in a pushchair next to her mother Irina. Irina survived the attack but suffered horrific injuries.
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska knew Liza, one of the three children brutally killed in the Russian strike, from the filming of an earlier Christmas video.
Reports say Rzhitsky was hit in the “back and chest” and died at the scene, with two 9-mm bullets found in his body. His watch and headphones were located at the scene, indicating robbery was not the motive, according to news outlet Mash.
The assassin shot Rzhitsky in a place without CCTV cameras but Russian law enforcement believes they have a photo of the person suspected of killing him.
Investigators are searching for "a middle-aged man in a blue cap", reported Baza media outlet.
Russian media said the assassin had escaped and that a murder investigation had been launched.
Also among the 27 killed in Vinnytsia were Kateryna Hula, 24, administrator of the Neuromed medical centre which was hit by the missile attack.
The centre’s manager Tetyana Kharchenko, 32, was another victim as was Evhen Kovalenko, 25, sound producer for Ukrainian singer Roxolana, who had been due to perform in the city.
Concert organiser Viktor Polishchuk was killed, as were children's neurologist Pavlo Kovalchuk and neurologist Nataliya Falshtynska, a mother of three.
Russian state TV claimed the submarine hit had been the “most productive” of the war, killing Colonel Oleg Makarchuk, 48, head of the Armaments and Logistics Service of the Ukrainian Air Force, and Colonel Dmitry Burdiko, another high-ranking air force commander, as they met in the so-called House of Officers in Vinnytsia.
