### Senior Russian Naval Officer Killed in Crimea Car Bombing

A senior officer within Russia's Black Sea fleet, Valery Trankovsky, was killed in a car bombing in Crimea's Sevastopol on Wednesday. The shocking attack marks the latest in a series of targeted strikes on Russian military personnel and pro-Kremlin figures in territories occupied by Russia.

According to a Ukrainian security services official who spoke with Ukrainian Pravda, the agency was behind the assassination of Trankovsky, who served as chief of staff for the 41st Missile Brigade of the Russian navy's Black Sea fleet. The official labeled Trankovsky a "war criminal," accusing him of ordering missile strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine from ships in the Black Sea. These strikes have been responsible for hundreds of civilian casualties across Ukraine.

Russia's Investigative Committee confirmed the attack, noting that the officer was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) fixed to the bottom of his car. While the committee did not name Trankovsky directly, it described the incident as a terrorist attack and stated that an investigation has been launched.

Reports from Russian media describe the gruesome nature of the explosion, stating that Trankovsky's legs were severed, leading to his death from blood loss. The bomb is believed to have been detonated remotely after Trankovsky had been under surveillance for approximately a week.

This attack is one in a succession of strikes targeting Russian military officers and officials installed by Moscow in occupied Ukrainian territories. In October, a GRU military intelligence officer was assassinated in the Moscow region, and a car bomb killed an official at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Additionally, a former Russian submarine captain was shot dead in Krasnodar, possibly tracked through the fitness app Strava.

Apart from military targets, prominent pro-war propagandists have also been victims of these attacks. In 2023, Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue, died when a bomb exploded in her vehicle.

Last December, Russia's Federal Security Service claimed it had dismantled a network of Ukrainian agents in Crimea, who were allegedly involved in attempts to assassinate pro-Russian figures. This latest car bombing in Sevastopol underscores the ongoing peril faced by those aligned with Moscow in the contested regions.