A Russian missile and drone developer was assassinated in a Ukrainian hit: reports

Russia Kh-69 cruise missile pictured at the 2023 Dubai Airshow

A senior Russian official who worked at a company that designs drones and missiles was killed in a Ukrainian operation near Moscow, according to reports.

A source in Ukraine’s security services told Ukrainian outlet Pravda that Mikhail Shatsky was assassinated in a special operation by Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the country’s military intelligence service.

A source told the Kyiv Independent that Shatsky was shot dead near Moscow in an attack that was likely orchestrated by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.

Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attack.

Shatsky’s body was reportedly found in the southeastern Moscow suburb of Kotelniki earlier this week.

According to Ukrainian outlet Hromadske, Shatsky was the deputy general director of Mars, a company that’s part of Russia’s state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom.

The outlet said he worked on the modernization of Russia’s Kh-59 and Kh-69 guided aircraft missiles and helped develop new drones.

He also worked on introducing AI into Russian drones and spacecraft, Hromadske reported.

The Moscow Times and the Kyiv Independent both reported that Shatsky was a designer at Mars and head of software there.

A source told Kyiv Independent that Shatsky was seen as the main proponent of incorporating AI into Russian drones, aircraft, and spacecraft.

A security forces source told Hromadske that “anyone in any way involved in developing Russia’s military-industrial complex and thus supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine is a legitimate target,” according to a translation by The Moscow Times.

Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, infrastructure, and military assets have been devastating throughout the war, and Russia has also used Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles against Ukrainian targets.

Ukraine has in the past been linked to the deaths of multiple pro-war figures but has commented on few of them, though a Ukrainian official said the country was behind the death of a Russia-backed lawmaker in a car bomb explosion in eastern Ukraine last year, in a rare response to such an event.

Ukrainian military intelligence didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from B-17.