Robert Shageyev, a former Ukrainian naval officer who was described as having defected to Russia, was killed in a bomb attack in Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea on Thursday, according to Russian Telegram channels and regional officials.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the region’s governor, said a woman had been arrested on suspicion of carrying out the assassination on behalf of Ukrainian special services. Russia’s FSB, as quoted by the state news agency TASS, said the suspect was a Russian national; Ukraine had not immediately commented.
What happened in Sevastopol
Shageyev was identified as the former commander of Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia, and was said to have switched allegiance during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. A Ukrainian website that maintains a database of people described as war criminals or traitors said he had been “liquidated”.
Separately, Razvozhayev said four Russian explosives experts and a security guard were killed in Sevastopol while trying to dispose of an explosive device. The source material does not establish whether that incident was connected to the attack on Shageyev.
Related coverage: Five Killed in Moscow Blast as Russia Accuses Ukraine.
Other reported attacks and damage
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike on a passenger train in the Odesa region killed the engineer and assistant engineer. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the train was carrying 340 people and that a jet-powered drone had destroyed its locomotive. Russia also struck Ukraine’s port of Izmail, near the Romanian border, according to the briefing.
In Russia’s Orenburg region, Governor Yevgeny Solntsev said the Orsk oil refinery had shut down completely after Ukrainian drone strikes damaged key infrastructure. He said the equipment was imported and that sanctions could mean repairs take up to six months. The Ukrainian military said it attacked the refinery on Tuesday.
Diplomatic and military developments
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said authorities had thwarted a Russian plan to kill a Ukrainian American citizen in Warsaw. Polish authorities detained a suspect allegedly recruited by Russia’s secret services on 7 August. Russia’s foreign ministry had not immediately responded, while the US state department said it was aware of the reports but had no additional information.
More context: Six killed as strikes hit Ukraine and Russia reports 605 drones intercepted.
Ukraine has proposed, through a third party, that Russia and Ukraine stop attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea, in an apparent effort to reopen a grain corridor. Russia had not responded, according to the briefing. Ukraine and Russia also exchanged the bodies of fallen soldiers: Ukraine’s prisoners of war agency said 261 bodies were returned to Ukraine, while a Russian media outlet, citing a Russian lawmaker, said Russia received 24 bodies.
Dispute over elections in occupied areas
Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned planned Russian parliamentary elections next month in occupied Ukrainian areas, saying any vote organised there would be illegal and have no legal consequences. The statement came as observers from former Soviet states began a mission to watch the election process.
Also read: Deadly attacks widen across Ukraine and Russia’s logistics network.
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