On Monday, a Russian-installed Crimean governor vowed revenge against "terrorists", who had killed a Russian navy captain of high rank in an attack claimed by Ukrainian security forces last week.

Valery Trankovsky was the chief of staff for the 41st brigade, which commanded the Russian missile ships in Black Sea. He died on Wednesday, at the age 47, in a car explosion in Sevastopol.

Sources in the Security Service of Ukraine told Reuters last week that Kyiv viewed Trankovsky, who committed "war crimes", as a legitimate target under the laws of war. This included ordering missile attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.

Mikhail Razvozhayev said that those who ordered the death of Sevastopol's Russian-installed Governor would pay a heavy price.

In a Telegram message, Razvozhayev stated that "non-humans who did this await an obvious conclusion." "Because terrorists all have the same fate."

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Investigative Committee of Russia, which investigates serious crimes, stated that an explosive device was used in a terrorist act, resulting in the death of a soldier. Trankovsky was not named.

Trankovsky is a native from Soviet Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He studied radio electronics, and then joined the Black Sea Fleet. Later, he graduated from a Naval Academy in his hometown.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine War, several pro-war Russians have been assassinated in operations that Moscow blames on Kyiv. These include journalist Darya Dugia, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, and former submarine captain Stanislav Rzhitsky.

Sevastopol, the traditional Black Sea Fleet headquarters for Russia, has been targeted heavily by Ukrainian forces during the conflict. (Reporting and Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by William Maclean).

(source: Reuters)