A deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been shot dead, Ukrainian officials say.
First rank captain Andrey Paliy, 51, is the only senior naval officer allegedly killed in the war in Ukraine, although Kyiv claims to have slain five army generals.
This came as Russia claimed to have hit a training facility for foreign fighters killing more than 100 special forces personnel and non-Ukrainian mercenaries.
His death appeared to be confirmed by a Russian friend, Konstantin Tsarenko, secretary of the public council of the Sevastopol Nakhimov Naval School, although it has not been officially acknowledged by Moscow.
One account said that he had been involved with Russian marines attacks near Mariupol.
However, the exact circumstances of his reported death are not known.
Paliy was born in Kyiv and in 1993 refused to take the Ukrainian military oath, instead serving in the Russian Northern Fleet.
He had earlier served on the Russian nuclear missile cruiser "Peter the Great”.
He also served as deputy head of the Russian naval academy in Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea.
Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko claimed Palsy’s death early today without giving further details.
Russia again today used hypersonic Kinzhal missiles on “military targets” in Ukraine, according to the defence ministry in Moscow.
“A Kinzhal attack on a fuel and lubricants base from which fuel for Ukrainian armoured vehicles was supplied was launched from the airspace over Crimea,” said a statement.
High-precision airborne missiles also struck a training centre for “foreign mercenaries” near the village of Ovruch, in Zhytomyr Region, claimed then Russians.
The type of missile strike was not specified.
“More than 100 servicemen of [Ukraine’s] special operations forces and foreign mercenaries were killed.”
