From Bednov to Zakharchenko. Complete list of the most famous killed and deceased militant leaders of Donbass
In the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), its head Alexander Zakharchenko was killed: he was blown up in a cafe in the center of Donetsk. No one doubts that the Ukrainian special services are behind the terrorist attack. Several suspects who may be associated with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have already been detained. Experts believe that only Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko could give the go-ahead for an action of this level: a political campaign has started in the country, so he wants to gain a trump card in the eyes of the nationalist-minded masses and radicals.
Bomb at the wake
A powerful explosion occurred in the Separ cafe in the center of Donetsk at approximately 18:30. The cafe is located not far from the residence of the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko. On Friday evening, he came here with colleagues to remember singer Joseph Kobzon, who died in Moscow the day before.
Apparently, the saboteurs knew about this: as soon as the head of the DPR and his colleagues sat down at the table, a powerful bomb went off near them.
The explosion literally destroyed the cafe building. During the explosion, Zakharchenko and two more of his associates, including the Minister of Revenue and Duties of the DPR Alexander Timofeev, were seriously injured. Zakharchenko was taken to the hospital, but doctors were unable to save him. The head of the DPR died there. The cause of death was a severe head wound.
DPR security services cordoned off the cafe, after which sappers began working there. Experts found no traces of destructive elements in the cafe. According to preliminary information, the bomb was disguised as a lamp and was located near the table where the head of the DPR was sitting.
In connection with the terrorist attack and the death of Zakharchenko, all entrances and exits to Donetsk were blocked. Soon information appeared that several Ukrainian saboteurs and their accomplices were caught on Bohdan Khmelnytsky Avenue in Donetsk.
Suspects of committing this terrorist attack have already been detained, advisor to the DPR leader Alexander Kazakov confirmed on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
Alexander Zakharchenko (left) and Dmitry Trapeznikov. Photo © RIA Novosti / Igor Maslov
One of Zakharchenko’s guards also came under suspicion of participation in the terrorist attack. This was reported by Life's sources in the DPR law enforcement agencies. He was with the head of the DPR, but disappeared from the cafe shortly before the explosion. Now they are actively looking for him, including at checkpoints on the DPR border with Russia and Ukraine.
According to the DPR Constitution, the republic will be temporarily headed by one of the deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers: DPR Minister of Revenue and Duties Alexander Timofeev, Finance Minister Ekaterina Matyushchenko and First Deputy Head of Administration Dmitry Trapeznikov. Timofeev, who was next to Zakharchenko during the explosion, is in serious condition. In the evening, it was announced that Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Dmitry Trapeznikov would temporarily serve as head of the DPR.
Reason for attack
The Ukrainian intelligence services were not original in their comments about the death of the head of the DPR. The head of the apparatus of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that he associates the murder of Alexander Zakharchenko with criminal disputes. According to another version of the SBU, he was killed by Russian special services. Rada deputy Anton Gerashchenko generally believes that the murder of the head of the DPR could be a staged act.
I don’t rule out that this may be a staged murder, pursuing certain goals,” he wrote on Facebook.
Soon after the terrorist attack in Donetsk, the Ukrainian military became more active along all front lines with the DPR. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are putting troops on alert: up to 35 armored vehicles were spotted in the Dokuchaevsk area, residents report the movement of Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment in the area of Artyomovsk, Shchastya and Rubezhnoye.
Ukrainian authorities are responsible
Experts say the attack's signature suggests it was planned by professionals.
Remember the murder of Givi and Motorola, they were also killed in a similar way. This is a sabotage and reconnaissance group trained by American or European specialists. They were most likely prepared at the Yavorovsky training ground in the Lviv region. A separate unit was specially created there, which was specifically trained to carry out sabotage work in the city,” military expert Alexey Leonkov told Life.
According to him, such operations usually involve several groups. One is engaged in covert surveillance of the object, the other commits a terrorist attack and leaves. Leonkov did not rule out that there are still other groups on the territory of the DPR and, perhaps, Zakharchenko was not their only target.
According to experts, the Ukrainian authorities are directly responsible for this terrorist attack.
Everything is escalating: threats to launch a missile strike on Russia, a military parade in Kyiv, the desire to purchase American Patriot missile defense systems, and finally the capture Russian ships in the Sea of Azov - all these are links of one chain. Zakharchenko is a hero of the national liberation struggle of the Russian people in Nazi Ukraine, so only Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko could sanction an action of this scale,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief told Life. National Defense"Igor Korotchenko.
He explained that a political campaign has started in Ukraine, so Petro Poroshenko, who wants to be re-elected, wants to get a certain trump card in the eyes of the nationalist-minded masses and radicals.
President of the Center for Strategic Communications Dmitry Abzalov also agrees with him.
The terrorist attack was timed to coincide with September 1, when the truce was supposed to start in Donbass. On the one hand, the task of the Ukrainian side is to provoke the DPR to escalate the conflict, and on the other hand, to show its radical position before the March presidential elections in Ukraine. In addition, the escalation of the conflict in Donbass may provide grounds for introducing a peacekeeping mission, and in a harsh scenario, so much will depend on the coming days, the reaction of Moscow and the DPR, explained Dmitry Abzalov.
This is the third death of high-ranking military personnel and DPR leaders in last years. First, battalion commander Arsen Pavlov (Motorola) was blown up in the elevator of his building in Donetsk on October 16, 2016. Six months later, in October 2017, his friend Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi) was killed in his own office by a shot from a Shmel grenade launcher.
Leader and patriot
Alexander Zakharchenko is a native resident of Donetsk. He was born in 1976, studied at high school No. 4. His mother was Russian, and his father was Ukrainian. Alexander's father worked at a local mine for thirty-five years. He now lives in Artyomovsk, in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Ukrainian minister social policy Andrey Reva reported in 2017 that Zakharchenko’s parents receive a pension in Ukraine.
After graduating from school, Zakharchenko continued his studies at the Industrial Automation College in Donetsk. His specialty is a mining electrical mechanic. The young man graduated from technical school with honors and immediately began working in his specialty. Later, Alexander entered the Donetsk Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but did not graduate.
Before the conflict in Ukraine, he worked at the Continent trading house, which was part of the structures of the Donetsk oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.
Alexander was involved in business in the coal sector, including experience in managing large teams.
The organization helped the families of deceased police officers, relatives of military personnel, and was engaged in historical activities. They countered attempts to glorify the nationalists of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). Subsequently, Zhilin created the fight club of the same name "Oplot". He was going to create a party and help integrate the united LPR, DPR and Kharkov region into Russia. But Zilina in September 2016 in the Moscow region.
It is possible that the Ukrainian special services are eliminating Oplot comrades. The version that the killer who killed Zhilin was a professional military man or an ex-law enforcement officer is supported by the ease with which he managed to kill Zhilin and wound his bodyguard.
A year before the conflict in Ukraine, Alexander headed the Donetsk branch of Oplot. With the beginning of Euromaidan, when power in the country was changing, Zakharchenko joined the nascent people’s militia.
Photo: © RIA Novosti/Mikhail Parkhomenko
During protests in the south-east of Ukraine in the spring of 2014, on April 16, he led a group of seven armed fighters who occupied the building of the Donetsk city administration. In May 2014, he was appointed military commandant of Donetsk. Subsequently appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the DPR. He was the commander of the Oplot unit of the DPR army. He personally took part in the battles and was wounded in the arm. In 2015, he was wounded in the leg. Alexander was awarded the rank of major general. Zakharchenko took the oath of allegiance to the people of the republic and began to fulfill his duties.
On November 4, 2014, Alexander Zakharchenko became the head of the DPR as a result of voting. Seventy-five percent of citizens who voted cast their votes for Zakharchenko.
There has already been an attempt on Zakharchenko’s life. The first time was exactly four years ago, in August 2014. His car was fired upon while he was driving it through one of the regions of the republic.
Head of Donetsk people's republic Alexander Zakharchenko. Over the past three years, the most prominent commanders of the LPR and DPR militias have died or been killed. Read more in the RBC review
Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi). Commander of the Somalia battalion
Known for: participated in the battles for Slavyansk, Ilovaisk, Donetsk airport.
Death: died in a terrorist attack on February 8, 2017. According to the Donetsk Republic News, Tolstykh died in an explosion in his office in Makeyevka. One of the former leaders of the DPR, Igor Strelkov, on his VKontakte page reported, that, according to his information, a “Bumblebee” grenade launcher was fired at the room in which Tolstoy was located. Nation-news, citing the DPR Ministry of Defense, reported the name of Givi’s alleged killer. According to the DPR leadership, this is Zoryan Shkiryak, who took part in the presidential elections. He accuses himself of his involvement.
Alexey Mozgovoy. Commander of the Ghost Battalion
Photo: Valery Melnikov / RIA Novosti
Known for: participated in the battles for Slavyansk and Debaltsevo.
Death: The car in which Mozgovoy, his press secretary Anna, two security guards and the driver were traveling was blown up by a landmine on the evening of May 23, 2015 on the Perevalsk-Lugansk road in the Alchevsk region and was shot with machine guns. Everyone who was in the car died.
Known for: headed the "Army of the South-East", which later became the People's Militia of the LPR.
Death: died in Moscow on January 27, 2017 as a result of acute heart failure. The media reported that, according to his wife, Bolotov could have been poisoned.
Arsen Pavlov (Motorola). Anti-tank commander special unit"Sparta" of the Donetsk People's Republic
Known for: took part in the defense of Slavyansk, in the battles for Ilovaisk and Debaltsevo, and the storming of Donetsk airport.
Pavel Dremov (Dad). Commander of the Stakhanov Cossack Self-Defense
Photo: LPR People's Militia / YouTube
Known for: in the summer of 2014, he assembled detachments of “Cossacks” in Stakhanov and Severodonetsk. He published video messages in which he criticized the head of the LPR Igor Plotnitsky and accused him of corruption and theft of humanitarian aid.
Death: the car in which Dremov was driving own wedding, was blown up on the Stakhanov-Pervomaisk highway on December 12, 2015. The militiaman died on the spot, his driver later died in the hospital.
Alexander Bednov (Batman). Battalion Commander "Batman"
Known for: former employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, took part in the seizure of the SBU building in Lugansk in April 2014. Bednov's group served as police in Lugansk after the proclamation of the Lugansk People's Republic. The battalion's fighters were accused of torturing the local population.
Death: In December 2014, the LPR Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against members of the Batman battalion. On January 1, 2015, battalion commander Alexander Bednov attempted to detain him after he “refused to comply with the lawful demands of the employees
special forces disarmed and put up fierce armed resistance.”
Oleg Anashchenko. Head of the People's Militia of the LPR
Known for: participated in the battles for Debaltsevo, presented himself in the media as “chief of the LPR air defense forces.”
Death: On February 4, 2017, Anashchenko’s car was blown up in Lugansk. The head of the People's Police Department was killed
LPR and one more person. On suspicion of his murder, Major of the Ukrainian army.
Gennady Tsypkalov. Former Chairman Council of Ministers of the self-proclaimed LPR
Known for: First Deputy "People's Governor" of the LPR Valery Bolotov. In September 2016, he was detained by the LPR authorities on charges of attempting to carry out a coup.
Death: A few days after his arrest, Tsypkalov was found hanged in the cell where he was kept. The head of the LPR Prosecutor General's Office, Sergei Rakhno, said that Tsypkalov committed suicide, and suggested that the reason for this was that Tsypkalov “realized the depth of his criminal actions.”
Vladimir Tsvyakh. Former commander of the "Hooligan" battalion
Photo: Tatiana Maltseva’s VKontakte page
Death: circumstances of death are not reported
Oleg Mamiev. Commander of the "Pyatnashka" battalion
Known for: Came to Donbass from Ossetia in 2014, fought in the Vostok unit, awarded the Order Republic of the DPR.
Alexander Zakharchenko. Head of the DPR
Known for: Since November 2014, he headed the Donetsk People's Republic and served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the DPR.
Death: On August 31, 2018, as a result of an explosion in the Separatist restaurant in the center of Donetsk, in which Zakharchenko was
1. Alexander Bednov, commander of the Batman group. Killed on January 1, 2015 in the Lutugino area.
A column of Bednov cars, grenade launchers and flamethrowers. Five militants from his squad were killed along with the commander. The leadership of the "LPR" took responsibility for the liquidation of Bednov. The “authorities” accused Bednov of kidnapping and robbery. Two days before his death, a “criminal case” was opened against him. According to statements by the "LPR Ministry of Internal Affairs", he refused to disarm and offered armed resistance.
2. Evgeniy Ishchenko (Kid), “people’s mayor” of Pervomaisk. Killed on January 23, 2015 in Pervomaisk.
Evgeny Ishchenko. Photo: dnr-sovet.su
Ishchenko, together with three Russians who were involved in supplying aid to militants, .
The leader of the "LPR" Igor Plotnitsky blamed the murder of Malysh on the Ukrainian DRG. However, Ishchenko was one of the opponents of Plotnitsky himself - he repeatedly criticized the leadership of the “LPR”. Malysh was also one of the field commanders, the so-called Cossacks, with whom members of the “LPR” regularly had conflicts over control of the Lugansk region.
3. Roman Voznik (Gypsy), commander of the Mirage group. Killed on March 26, 2015 in Donetsk.
8. Arseny Pavlov (Motorola), commander of the Sparta group. Killed on October 16, 2016 in Donetsk.
10. Mikhail Tolstykh (Givi), leader of the Somalia group. Killed in Makeevka on February 8, 2017.
Mikhail Tolstykh is a citizen of Ukraine, born in 1980 in Ilovaisk, Donetsk region. According to Tolstykh, he served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, after the army he worked as a loader at a rope factory. In 2014, he led the Somalia group. Participated in the battles for Donetsk airport and Ilovaisk. Videos were published on the Internet showing Givi’s abuse of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
In January 2017, Tolstykh took part in battles in the Avdeevka area, where.
11. Vladimir Makovich, the first “speaker of the DPR parliament.” Died on March 12, 2017 in Donetsk. was fatally wounded after an explosion in the Separ restaurant in the center of Donetsk. On suspicion of organizing the assassination attempt, militants and persons associated with them." Zakharchenko in May 2014 became the "military commandant of Donetsk", in August of the same year he replaced Alexander Borodai as "chairman of the Council of Ministers of the DPR." After the "elections" on November 2, 2014 Zakharchenko became the “head of the DPR”.
DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko died in Donetsk. He was fatally wounded in an explosion in a cafe. After his death, practically none of those who stood at the origins remained in power in Donbass. Many notable figures who appeared at the dawn of the "Russian Spring" no longer have any influence on political life region. Ruposters tells about the fate of the creators and activists of the unrecognized republics.
The head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, died in the Separ cafe in the center of Donetsk from the explosion of a device planted in a chandelier or floor lamp next to the victim’s table. Zakharchenko survived several assassination attempts. The first attempt took place in August 2014, another one was more recently - in April. Then the saboteurs also thoroughly knew the travel routes of the head of the self-proclaimed republic and disguised the explosives as a piece of furniture.
Alexander Zakharchenko
Zakharchenko is a former Ukrainian policeman; at the time of the events that unfolded in Donetsk in early 2014, he was a member of the Oplot organization, led its Donetsk branch and owned a security company. In April, he was able to gain a foothold with his people in the center of Donetsk and became the military commandant of the city, and a month later - the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of the DPR.
In August, with the support of the DPR Council, he removed and dismissed Prime Minister Alexander Borodai. In the elections held in November 2014, Zakharchenko went from social movement"Donetsk Republic" by Andrei Purgin and won with a result of 78% of the votes. In February 2015, he led the movement.
He took direct part in battles with the Ukrainian military and was wounded in Debaltseve in 2015. Many former comrades and Ukrainian politicians accused Zakharchenko of racketeering and transferring business in Donetsk to his associates. In 2015-2017, several criminal cases were opened against him on charges of terrorism in Kyiv.
Several weeks before the assassination attempt, Ukrainian media began spreading reports about Zakharchenko’s imminent removal from the post of head of the DPR. Allegedly, he should have been “written off, maintaining decency,” accusing him of abuse of power. And former Minister of State Security Alexander Khodakovsky was expected to replace Zakharchenko. Zakharchenko was one of the signatories of the Minsk agreements agreed upon by the Normandy Four.
Zakhar Prilepin
Zakhar Prilepin
The death on February 8 of the commander of the Somali militia battalion, Mikhail Tolstykh, known as Givi, continues a series of murders of leaders of armed groups that have been operating in the Donbass for the past three years. “NI” remembered the others.
It should be clarified that we can only speak reliably about the facts of the liquidation of DPR-LPR commanders. None of these murders have been fully investigated, or the results of the investigation raise serious doubts about the objectivity. Therefore, there are many mutually exclusive versions surrounding each incident. On the one hand, Ukrainian radicals and special services are not averse to taking upon themselves the elimination and punishment of the “occupiers”; on the other hand, experts who know the situation and balance of power within the self-proclaimed “republics” do not rule out a showdown between their functionaries and commanders.
The systematic series of murders itself speaks in favor of both versions equally. 
"Givi" - Tolstoy
So, February 8 In 2017, as a result of an explosion (as if fired from a Shmel grenade launcher) in his office in Makeyevka, “Givi”-Tolstoy died. Nation-news, citing the DPR Ministry of Defense, reported the name of Givi’s alleged killer. According to the leadership of the DPR, this is an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Zoryan Shkiryak, who took part in the presidential elections. He, however, immediately responded and stated: “What else should they [the DPR] say? Why are they, excuse me, pissing each other in the toilet? It’s clear that they need to blame someone.”
Earlier, as reported by the 112 Ukraine TV channel, Shkiryak said that in the Donbass there is a “targeted liquidation of the leaders of the terrorist gangs “LPR” and DPR.” He also said that the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the SBU are offering the leaders of the unrecognized republics, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, to surrender before they are liquidated.
Thus, there is a clear contradiction in Shkiryak’s explanations...
Arseny Pavlov (call sign Motorola)
October 6, 2016. in Donetsk, as a result of the detonation of an explosive device in the elevator of a residential building, one of the leaders of the Donbass militias, Colonel of the army of the proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Arseny Pavlov (call sign Motorola), was killed. How the Ukrainian special services organized a sophisticated terrorist attack in a well-guarded multi-story building where Motorola lived is unknown. 
Alexander Bednov (call sign "Batman")
January 1, 2015 near the city of Lutugino, a convoy of the LPR Ministry of Defense “Batman” rapid reaction group was attacked by unknown persons. At the turn towards Lutugino, the group was shot with machine guns, grenade launchers and flamethrowers. The body of the group commander, Alexander Bednov, known under the call sign “Batman,” was found in an armored minibus. Five members of the escort group were also killed.
Officer of the Cossack National Guard of the Great Don Army
January 23, 2015 in Pervomaisk (Lugansk region), a car was shot in which the commandant of this city, an officer of the Cossack National Guard of the “Great Don Army” Evgeniy Ishchenko, was shot. According to LPR media reports, three Russians were with Ishchenko, delivering humanitarian aid to Donbass. They all died. According to a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR, the commandant’s car came under fire from a Ukrainian sabotage group. 
Member of the Parliament of Novorossiya Roman Voznik (call sign “Gypsy”)
March 26, 2015 in Donetsk, at the intersection of Chelyuskintsev and Vatutina streets, unknown persons fired at the car of the commander of the DPR "Mirage" battalion and the deputy of the Novorossiya parliament Roman Voznik (call sign Gypsy). Voznik and his guard died from their injuries. Representatives of the DPR militia accused a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group of murder.
Alexey Mozgovoy (call sign “Ghost”)
May 23, 2015 The car of the commander of the Prizrak (LPR) brigade, Alexey Mozgovoy, traveling from Alchevsk to Lugansk, was blown up by a mine and was then shot with machine guns at the exit from the village of Mikhailovka (Lugansk region). As a result, Mozgovoy himself, his press secretary Anna Aseeva, two security guards, a driver and two local residents whose car was next to the car field commander at the moment of detonation. The Ukrainian partisan detachment "Shadows" claimed responsibility for the murder.
Eduard Gilazov (call sign “Ryazan”).
August 20, 2015 A message appeared on the Internet about the murder on July 27, 2015 of the commander of the sabotage and reconnaissance group "Ryazan" of the armed forces of the DPR, Eduard Gilazov (call sign Ryazan). The circumstances of the death were not specified.
Pavel Dremov (call sign “Dad”)
December 12, 2015 On the Stakhanov-Pervomaisk highway (Lugansk region), the car of the commander of the separate sixth motorized rifle Cossack regiment of the LPR people's militia, Ataman Pavel Dremov (call sign Batya), was blown up. According to the LPR Prosecutor General's Office, the explosive device was installed directly in the ataman's car. As a result, Dremov himself died at the scene, his driver was seriously injured and later died in the hospital.
Evgeniy Kononov (call sign “Cat”)
On the night of January 8-9, 2016 in Gorlovka (Donetsk region), an unknown sniper shot and killed the deputy commander of the 100th brigade of the DPR Republican Guard, Colonel Yevgeny Kononov (call sign Kot). According to DPR media reports, investigative authorities checked the version that the sniper was delivered to Gorlovka in a car of OSCE representatives, but it was not confirmed.
Alexander Bushuev (call sign “Zarya”).
July 3, 2016 in Makeevka (Donetsk region) on railway crossing A car containing the commander of the 7th brigade of the DPR army, Alexander Bushuev (call sign Zarya), was destroyed by a landmine. According to DPR Army General Igor Bezler, another person who was in the car with the deceased was injured as a result of the explosion.
Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic Valery Bolotov
Standing apart in the series of murders of DPR-LPR figures is the death of the first head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic Valery Bolotov, who allegedly died of a heart attack at a dacha near Moscow January 27, 2017 of the year. It was reported that the widow of the deceased spoke about poisoning her husband.
There are no exact data on the number of deaths as a result of the armed conflict in Ukraine. According to the UN, as of September 30, 2016, 31,805 people became victims of the conflict: 9,574 dead (including civilians, Ukrainian security forces, rebels and 298 passengers of flight MH17), 22,231 injured, 1.5 million fled to other countries. However, the warring parties give different figures. And the war continues, increasing the morbidity every day.
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