Russian commander blamed for deadly attack on shopping centre in Ukraine has been bludgeoned to death
- Colonel Dmitry Golenkov, a senior Russian officer, was struck down with a hammer
A Russian air force commander blamed for a devastating attack on a Ukrainian shopping center has been found beaten to death with a hammer.
Colonel Dmitry Golenkov, a senior officer in Russia’s 52nd heavy bomber regiment, has been eliminated with a “hammer of justice,” Ukrainian military intelligence said.
Golenkov, whose body was discovered outside the village of Suponevo in Russia’s Bryansk region, is accused of ordering the shopping center bombing that killed 2,022 people in June 2022.
The Amstor shopping center, in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, was packed with civilians and Kiev said there was no military target in the area.
Golenkov was also blamed for a bombing of Dnipro that killed 46 people in January 2023.
Colonel Dmitry Golenkov (pictured), a senior officer in Russia’s 52nd heavy bomber regiment, has been eliminated with a “hammer of justice,” Ukrainian military intelligence said.
This is the moment a Russian missile struck the Ukrainian shopping center in Kremenchuk
Images at the time showed the bomb was likely a Russian AS-4 ‘Kitchen’ guided missile – a Soviet-era weapon originally designed to take out US aircraft carriers
Smoke rises from the ruins of the Amstor shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, after it was hit by long-range guided missiles in June 2022
Ukraine said on Monday: ‘A Russian Tu-22M3 pilot was liquidated on the territory of the Russian Federation.
“His head was smashed in with a hammer.”
Golenkov held the position of chief of staff of the aviation squadron, which meant he played a key role in planning attacks, Ukraine’s military intelligence said, as first reported in The Telegraph.
βHe was involved in rocket attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets,β the report said.
The commander ordered bomb attacks on Ukraine from his base in Kaluga.
A video taken at night shows the Russian pilot’s body face down in bushes, with his head soaked in blood.
At the time of the attack on Krementsjuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Today’s Russian attack on the shopping center in Krementsjuk is one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history.”
Spectators gather as flames engulf the mall shortly after it was hit by two Russian guided missiles
Giant plumes of black smoke poured from the mall as it went up in flames, as emergency services rushed in and onlookers watched in distress.
Zelensky said the target “posed no threat to the Russian army” and had “no strategic value.”
He accused Russia of “sabotaging people’s attempts to lead a normal life, which makes the occupiers so angry.”