Separatist field commander killed in eastern Ukraine
The commander of the separatist battalion Hooligan, Vladimir Tsvyah, with the call sign Commander, has been killed in the Donbas, as reported by the journalist from the Russia-1 television channel, Alexander Rogatkin, on his Facebook page.
"Volodya Tsvyah, the legendary battalion commander, has died on the front line together with the battalion intelligence chief," wrote Rogatkin.
The authorities of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) have not officially confirmed the death of Tsvyah. At the same time, his death was reported on the separatist VKontakte (Russian social network) page , “LPR news”.
"You've always been on the front line in battle, you didn't hide behind the soldiers, and you were respected and loved for that. Brave, intelligent, honest ..." the message on the page reads.
In one of his interviews, Tsvyah promised to lead his fighters "further to Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv" if "Ukrainian troops do not calm down".
On October 16, 2016, the commander of the Sparta Battalion, Arsen Pavlov, call sign Motorola, was assassinated in Donetsk. He was killed by an explosion in the elevator of the building where he lived. The authorities of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) accused the special services of Ukraine (SBU) of his assassination. On February 8, 2017, the commander of the Somali battalion, Mikhail Tolstoy, call sign Givi, was also assassinated as a result of the attack on his office.