A notorious Russian militant who played a role in the 2014 annexation of Crimea has reportedly been killed in Ukraine.
Alexander Mozhayev—who was known by the call sign “Babai,” the Russian word for “boogeyman”—was killed on Wednesday night during a battle in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, according to a Thursday report from The Moscow Times that cites Ukrainian Army Colonel Anatoly Stefan and multiple Russian military bloggers.
Mozhayev was reportedly a member of the Cossack militant group Volchya Sotnya, or the “Wolf Hundred.” He took part in Russia’s successful effort to annex Crimea in 2014 and assisted the now-jailed former Russian military commander Igor Girkin in briefly capturing the Donbas city of Slovyansk during the same year.
At the time, Ukraine presented what it said was photographic evidence that Mozhayev was an agent of the Russian intelligence unit, which Kyiv claimed proved a link between the Russian government and the pro-Russia separatist movement that was fighting for control of Donbas.
DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP
Mozhayev denied the claim in a 2014 Time magazine article that refers to him as “a mild-mannered fighter with a chest like a barrel.” He also suggested that his activities abroad were related to difficulties with law enforcement at home, claiming that Russian authorities accused him of “attempted murder with a knife” and that he was being targeted for refusing to pay a bribe.
Prior to his time as a militant, Mozhayev reportedly served five years in prison following a 2005 conviction for drug trafficking. It is unclear whether Mozhayev was fighting in Zaporizhzhia on behalf of any particular group, or whether he was in the region to escape his previous legal troubles.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian Foreign Ministry via email on Thursday.
Ukrainian forces reportedly made some advances on Russian-held territory in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, according to a report from the Institute for the Study of War, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
According to a Telegram post from Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, Ukraine’s counteroffensive had “partial success” near Verbove, a village about six miles from the recaptured Ukrainian settlement of Robotyne.
Tarnavskyi claimed that 322 Russian fighters had been killed on Wednesday. He also said that “Russian terrorists” were “using civilians as human shields” while settling “en masse” in residential high-rise apartments in the Russian-occupied city of Tokmak.
The Ukrainian counteroffensive is slowly advancing toward Tokmak. Exiled Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said that the families of Russian officers were being evacuated from Tokmak earlier this month.
“‘There is no panic,’ but there is panic,” Fedorov said on Telegram. “A few weeks ago the occupiers began to evacuate ‘authority’ bodies, and a few days ago the Russian officers began intensively evacuating their families … the enemy is definitely not happy.”