Eighteen operational officers of Russia’s 35th Combined Arms Army headquarters were killed in a sabotage incident in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to the Unified Center for Surrender Appeals “I Want to Live” [Я хочу жить].
The sabotage took place on Aug. 30 near the village of Voskresenka but was reported publicly on Sept. 18.
“Unknown well-wishers set fire to dry grass near the command post of the 35th Army,” the Telegram post read.
The blaze spread rapidly into the command post’s rooms and dugouts. Smoke and carbon monoxide filled the underground positions, leaving the officers trapped without escape.
The following were confirmed dead:
- Ilya Makhotin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Missile Troops and Artillery Department, b. Feb. 25, 1980
- Col. Ruslan Shigabutdinov, Chief of General Operational Planning, b. Oct. 25, 1990
- Col. Dmitry Pashabekov, Chief of Fire and Nuclear Destruction Planning, b. July 19, 1977
- Rustam Setdarov, Senior Officer for Mathematical Modeling, b. Dec. 2, 1989
- Vladimir Sulitsky, Officer of Fire and Nuclear Destruction Planning, b. Feb. 20, 1988
- Andrei Silin, Chief of Topographic Service, b. Feb. 20, 1988
- Aleksandr Nitayev, Chief of Technical Information Protection, b. Dec. 25, 1984
- Aleksey Koltsov, Deputy Chief of Electronic Warfare Service, b. Feb. 28, 1988
- Aleksandr Dmukha, Engineering Troops Operations Officer, b. Feb. 20, 1979
- Vladislav Panin, Electronic Warfare Officer, b. Jan. 23, 1996
- Andrei Bogdanov, Air Defense Officer, b. Feb. 20, 1988
- Lt. Ilya Sivukhin, Artillery Intelligence Officer, b. May 7, 1998
- Vadim Yakovets, Head of Radio Group, 714th Recon Center, b. May 7, 1984
The bodies of five more could not be evacuated:
- Col. Sergei Konoiko, Deputy Chief of Intelligence, b. June 30, 1978
- Vladimir Filimonikhin, Assistant to Operational Duty Officer, b. Apr. 25, 1984
- Lt. Alexey Khorin, Engineering Troops Officer, b. Oct. 28, 1993
- Semyon Ponomarev, Chief of Information Collection Group, 714th KRC, b. Aug. 14, 1997
- Yuriy Fokin, Orlan-10 UAV Crew Operator, 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, b. Feb. 6, 1990
On Sept. 1, Petro Andryushchenko, former advisor to the exiled mayor of Mariupol and head of the Center for the Study of the Occupation, reported that the operation was carried out jointly by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) and the Mariupol Resistance.
He wrote on Telegram: “Seventeen officers and one private were killed. The officers were leading an offensive in one of the Zaporizhzhia sectors. Now there will be no offensive.”
The HUR has not officially confirmed its involvement.
The sabotage came as Russia concentrated forces for renewed offensives in Zaporizhzhia. On Aug. 18, Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Russia had redeployed troops from the Sumy region.
On Aug. 22, Southern Defense Forces spokesperson Vladyslav Voloshyn confirmed the Russian regrouping.
However, in September, reports indicated that Russia’s summer campaign in Zaporizhzhia had largely failed.
In early September, Syrsky reported that Russian forces currently hold a threefold advantage in manpower and equipment, which in some areas rises to four to six times.
He said that in August, Russia had planned large-scale offensives in the Zaporizhzhia sector, but Ukraine’s Defense Forces thwarted those efforts. As a result, Russian troops were forced to delay their push in Zaporizhzhia and redeploy marine units to Donetsk.
“In fact, the month when the Russian military made maximum efforts to break through became a month of relatively small territorial gains,” Syrsky said.
According to him, Ukrainian troops regained 58 square kilometers (22.4 square miles) and liberated several settlements in August, while holding firm in the Hulyaipole and Prydniprovske sectors.
On Thursday, Voloshyn stated that Russian forces were attempting to capture the villages of Kamyanske and Plavni to continue their offensive toward Prydniprovske and advance to the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia.