Ukrainian forces claim to have shot dead the deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, said to be the first death of a senior naval officer in the war.
First rank captain Andrei Paliy, 51, was head of political military activities for the fleet, which has been shelling Ukrainian cities and stopping cargo ships from reaching the country’s ports.
He was allegedly killed while involved in Russian marine attacks near the besieged port city of Mariupol, but the exact circumstances of his reported death are not known. The armed forces of Ukraine named Paliy in a statement yesterday, saying that they had “liquidated the deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet”.
Anton Gerashchenko, minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, and Olexander Scherba, Ukraine’s former ambassador
