Separatist commander assassinated in eastern Ukraine
None
A prominent rebel leader in eastern Ukraine has been killed in an explosion in his office, his associates said on Wednesday.
The rebels' Donetsk News Agency said Mikhail Tolstykh, better known under his nom de guerre Givi, died early Wednesday morning in what it described as a terrorist attack. Several Russian media outlets said 35-year old Tolstykh died in an explosion in his office.
Russian state television showed pictures of firefighters putting out flames in the building where Toltsykh's headquarters is believed to be. The footage from the scene showed several rooms in the building gutted from an apparent explosion.
Tolstykh was one of the most recognizable faces in the conflict between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed rebels which has claimed more than 9,800 lives since it began in 2014. Tolstykh's death follows the assassination of his close associate Arsen Pavlov, also known as Motorola, last year.
