Russian submarine commander on Ukraine blacklist assassinated

A Russian military official who had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals has been shot dead by an unknown assassin while on his morning run. Key points: Stanislav Rzhitsky's personal details appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist website He has now been marked as "liquidated" on said site Unsubstantiated claims have been made that Cpt Rzhitsky was part of a deadly submarine-launched missile attack Russia's top investigative body said Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was gunned down early on Monday in the southern city of Krasnodar. Screenshot of Stanislav Rzhitsky entry on Myrotvorets database, showing the label "Liquidated", taken on July 11, 2023 Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian interior ministry adviser, tweeted that Russian media were pointing the finger at Ukraine but he did not comment on whether that suspicion was justified. Russian state media and war bloggers said Cpt Rzhitsky was deputy head of military mobilisation in the city and had previously commanded the "Krasnodar" submarine in the Black Sea. A Telegram channel used by self-styled pro-Ukraine partisans who have claimed hundreds of sabotage attacks inside Russia said — without stating evidence — that Cpt Rzhitsky was suspected of involvement in a submarine-launched cruise missile strike in July 2022 that killed at least 23 people including a 4-year-old girl in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.