The Governor Of Crimea Oaths To Retaliate Ukraine For The Death Of Russian Naval Officials

Car explosion in Sevastopol, Crimea/TASS/Ruptly

JAKARTA - Russia's inaugurated Governor of Sevastopol Crimea vowed revenge against the "terrorist" who killed a high-ranking captain in the Russian navy last week in an attack claimed by the Ukrainian security service.

Valery Trankovsky, chief of staff of the 41st brigade of Russian missile ships in the Black Sea, was killed in a car bombing last Wednesday at the port of Sevastopol at the age of 47.

Sources at the Ukraine Security Service (SBU) told Reuters last week that Kyiv saw Trankovsky as a "sah" target in line with war laws for his war crimes, including ordering missile attacks that hit civilian targets in Ukraine.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, Russia's inaugurated governor of Sevastopol, said those who ordered his death would pay a very expensive price.

"It's not humans who dare to do this, waiting for a clear end," Razvozhayev said in a Telegram post.

"Because all terrorists have the same fate," he added.

The Russian Investigative Committee, which handles a serious crime investigation, said a homemade explosive device exploded in an act of terrorism, killing a soldier. He did not identify Trankovsky's name.

Trankovsky, a native of Soviet Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, studied radio electronics and later entered the Black Sea Fleet, then graduated from a naval academy in his hometown.

Several pro-war Russian figures have been killed since the start of Ukraine's war in an operation Moscow has accused Kyiv of, including journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky.

The city of Sevastopol is the traditional headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and was the main target of Ukraine's attacks during the conflict.