Intelligence: Senior Russian officer killed in Belgorod Oblast.

A senior Russian officer was killed in Belgorod Oblast on the night of June 5, Ukraine's military intelligence reported[1]. The 52-year-old Colonel Andrei Vasilyevich Stesyev, a senior officer in the Operational Group "Belgorod," was killed in the village of Novaya Tavolzhanka near Russo-Ukrainian borders. According to the Free Russia Legion, an anti-Kremlin armed group that claims to fight on Ukraine's side, Stesyev was killed[2] in an engagement with the militias.

The Legion has reportedly[3] engaged with Moscow's troops in Novaya Tavolzhanka during the past few days, fighting beside another anti-Kremlin militia, the Russian Volunteer Corps. Ukraine's military intelligence identified the officer as a former commander of the 104th Guards Air Assault Regiment, which has been accused[4] of taking part in the March 2022 Bucha massacre.

Shmyhal: Bucha could be a trial site for 'Russian war criminals' Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 1 that the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which endured a brutal weeks-long Russian occupation in spring last year, should be considered a trial site for "Russian war criminals."

On June 4, the Russian Volunteer Corps announced yet another incursion in Belgorod Oblast.

Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported ongoing fighting in Novaya Tavolzhanka the same day.

News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer.

Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

References

1. ^ reported (t.me)
2. ^ killed (t.me)
3. ^ reportedly (t.me)
4. ^ accused (www.rferl.org)
5. ^ Shmyhal: Bucha could be a trial site for 'Russian war criminals'Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on April 1 that the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which endured a brutal weeks-long Russian occupation in spring last year, should be considered a trial site for "Russian war criminals." (kyivindependent.com)