A top Russian air force general was killed in strikes on annexed Crimea on Wednesday, according to local reports.
Multiple Russian Telegram channels, including Crimean Wind, reported that Russian Air Force Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko was killed during a Ukrainian strike on the Belbek military airfield in Crimea.
Telegram channel Public Reserve Stugna, which has more than 73,000 subscribers, said 10 Russian military personnel were “liquidated” in the attack, including Tatarenko, the commander of the aviation unit at the Belbek air base.
And another one bites the dust…
Russian media report that the commander of the aviation unit at Belbek air base in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea, Lieutenant General Alexander Tatarenko, was killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on the air base. pic.twitter.com/iPD93tRB0F
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) February 2, 2024
Newsweek couldn’t immediately verify the reports and has contacted Russia’s Defense Ministry for comment by email. The Kremlin hasn’t commented on the reports.
Tatarenko, 63, served in Russia’s Far East, the Urals, Siberia and the northern regions of the country. He was appointed commander of Russia’s 14th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation in 2016, Ukrainian publication RBC reported.
ViIKTOR KOROTAYEV/Kommersant Photo/AFP/Getty Images
The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that it had prevented an attack on the Black Sea peninsula, and downed 20 Ukrainian missiles over Crimea and the Black Sea. It said debris from the missiles had fallen on the territory of a military unit near the Belbek air base, but said no aircraft had been damaged.
This is a developing news story and will be updated when further information becomes available.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.