A retired Russian military commander who played a key role in the brutal airstrikes on Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol was killed in an explosion early Thursday, Russian authorities confirmed.
Zaur Gurtsiev, 34, died alongside a 29 year old acquaintance in a blast that rocked a residential neighborhood in the Stavropol region, southern Russia. The cause of the explosion remains unknown, though officials have not ruled out the possibility of Ukrainian involvement.
Videos shared on Russian Telegram channels appear to show Gurtsiev and another man standing together shortly before the deadly blast. No group has claimed responsibility.
Gurtsiev had received several medals for his involvement in Moscow’s devastating assaults on Mariupol and Avdiivka during the early stages of the war. He was serving as Stavropol’s deputy mayor at the time of his death and was part of the Kremlin’s “Time of Heroes” initiative, a program designed to elevate combat veterans into elite civilian leadership roles.
“Zaur Alexandrovich Gurtsiev, our hero and participant in the Time of Heroes program, has died,” said Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov. “All versions are being considered, including a terrorist attack involving Nazis from Ukraine.”
The Kremlin continues to justify its invasion of Ukraine by framing it as a mission to eliminate so-called neo-Nazis, a claim widely discredited by international observers.
The incident adds to a string of unexplained killings of high-ranking Russian military figures since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. In December, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s biological and chemical weapons unit, was killed in a Moscow explosion. In April, another blast in the capital killed General-Lieutenant Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the military’s main operational directorate.
Ukrainian officials have often referred to such strikes as “legitimate targets,” though Kyiv rarely confirms operations on Russian soil. After Kirillov’s death, Ukrainian security forces reportedly told CBS News that it was a special operation executed by Ukraine’s Security Service, a claim unverified but incendiary enough to spark demands for retaliation within Russia.
Gurtsiev commanded Russian air units during the infamous siege of Mariupol in 2022, a 12-week assault that left much of the Black Sea city in ruins. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 8,000 civilians died during the siege, which included the bombing of a theatre sheltering women and children.
The explosion that killed Gurtsiev is under investigation, with Russian security services yet to release further details.
