Russian Navy officer who defected from Ukraine killed by hidden bin bomb in Crimea
Key Points:
- Robert Shageyev, a former Ukrainian naval officer who defected to Russia and commanded Ukraine's only submarine, was killed in a bomb blast in Sevastopol, Crimea, in what regional authorities described as a targeted assassination plot.
- Russia's Federal Security Service confirmed the death and detained a Russian woman suspected of carrying out the attack under instructions from Ukrainian intelligence, though Ukraine has not publicly commented on the incident.
- The explosive device was planted in a bin near a bench and detonated as Shageyev was walking down a staircase, killing him instantly; eyewitnesses reported seeing a woman with a backpack nearby.
- Shageyev had surrendered the Ukrainian submarine Zaporizhzhia to Russian forces in 2014, subsequently joining Russia's Black Sea Fleet and facing a suspected treason case from Ukraine since 2022.
- In a separate incident, five people were killed during an operation to dispose of an explosive device in Sevastopol overnight, according to the regional governor.