A separatist commander in Donetsk Peoples Republic, Mikhail Tolstykh, AKA Givi, leader of Samali Battalion, died after a bomb exploded in his office on 8 February, de facto separatist authorities and a source with ties to its military told RFE/RL by phone.
His body was charred so badly identification was difficult according to Donbass News.
Donetsk separatist leaders called the killing a “terrorist” attack organized by the Ukrainian intelligence services.
“The Ukrainians…cannot defeat us on the battlefield, so they kill us in a malicious way,” separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko said.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) denied it was responsible, laying the blame on militias.
“People tied to illegal armed groups are purged by special agencies beyond the line of contact,” Yuriy Tandit, SBU chief spokesman, told the 112 Ukrainian channel.
According to the defense establishment’s data, Ukraine’s sabotage reconnaissance group was quickly on the scene, Donbass News reported. (video with transcript Below)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the killing “an attempt to destabilize the situation” in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists. Givi, 36, was leading the Somali battalion and made a name for himself in the brutal battle for Donetsk airport, RFE reported.
Video footage from 2015 shows him verbally and physically abusing Ukrainian servicemen captured during the battle according to RFE..
In October another Separatist leader Arseny Pavlov, AKA Motorola 33, who commanded the Sparta Batallion died on October 16 when a bomb exploded in an elevator in his apartment block in Donetsk.
A top Donetsk separatist leader blamed the Ukrainian authorities for the blast and said the killing amounted to a “declaration of war. ” Kyiv’s forces has killed more than 9,600 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 according to a Radio Free Europe Oct 16 report.
Transcript of Donbass News Video on the Scene below:
The DPR People’s Militia commander ‘Givi’ has died on Wednesday morning in Donetsk People’s Republic. This is the breaking news report in the local UNION TV immediately after the tragedy.
An act of terrorism has taken place in the capital of the Donetsk People’s Republic. According to the preliminary data, Mikhail Tolstykh died, better known as the commander of the battalion ‘Samali’. His call sign was ‘Givi’.
According to the defense establishment’s data, Ukraine’s sabotage-reconnaissance group has worked.
“We are among the first who arrived on the site. Today, at 06:12 the act of terrorism took place here. The Emergencies Ministry and servicemen are working here now. They refuse to give official commentaries yet. We know only that as a result of the act of terrorism there died the serviceman. We don’t know yet who died, because the body was severely burnt. We are waiting for the results of the medical examination. It will show who died. It is the whole information for now,” said Jelena Sokolova immediately after the attack in the site on.
VIDEO AT THE BEGINNING RFE
With reporting by Donbass News and AFP, RIA Novosti, TASS, and Interfax via RFE