Ukrainian Forces kill high-ranking Russian officer in Crimea strike
During an attack on military targets in Crimea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have killed the deputy commander of the Russian 43rd Separate Marine Assault Aviation Regiment, Alexander Chernobriviy, reported Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Anatoliy Shtefan, also known by the call sign Stirlitz.
Chernobriviy was killed during the strike on the Saki airbase on January 6, 2024. Although Russian official sources have not reported his death, Shtefan declared that the commander had been "successfully demobilized" in the "fireworks at the Saki airfield". Additionally, according to some reports, three other Russian servicemen were killed alongside Chernobriviy.
Information on the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets indicates that Chernobriviy, listed since 2018, was born in Crimea in 1985. After training at the Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School, he obtained Russian citizenship in 2007. He later served as a pilot of Su-24 and Su-30SM aircraft in Russian Black Sea Fleet Air Force units. Subsequently, he became a strike squadron pilot at the separate Saki assault aviation regiment, and from 2023, he served as the deputy commander of Russia's 43rd Separate Marine Assault Aviation Regiment.
On January 6, Saki airfield in Crimea came under attack, triggering the activation of air defense systems over the peninsula. The Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that Russian radars and an ammunition depot had been destroyed at Saki, where the 43rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Russian Air Force was based.