A senior Russian cruise missile engineer, Mikhail Shatsky, was fatally shot near Moscow, with Ukrainian media attributing the assassination to Ukraine’s intelligence.
Shatsky’s body was discovered in Kuzminki forest park, located in the Kotelniki suburb southeast of Moscow. He held the position of deputy chief designer and software head at the Moscow Experimental Design Bureau Mars, a division of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom. The bureau specializes in developing automated control and navigation systems for satellites and drones.
Exiled opposition journalist Alexander Nevzorov, who first reported the killing, revealed that Shatsky also oversaw the development of Kh-59 missiles into the advanced Kh-69 versions, both of which are used by the Russian military in its attacks on Ukraine.
Ukrainian news outlets, including RBC and Ukrainska Pravda, cited anonymous sources claiming that the assassination was a “special operation” carried out by Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency. A source quoted by Hromadske stated that individuals contributing to Russia’s military-industrial efforts are legitimate targets for Ukraine’s defense forces.
The Ukrainian air force reported intercepting two Kh-59/69 missiles over the Dnipropetrovsk region earlier this week, underscoring the significance of these weapons in the ongoing conflict.
Russia’s investigative news platform Important Stories geolocated the site of Shatsky’s death to a location just a 10-minute walk from his home in Kotelniki.
