Russia-backed separatists say one of their commanders in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine has been assassinated. Mikhail Tolstykh was better known by his nom de guerre, Givi. In Current Time TV's documentary about the brutal battle for Donetsk airport, he explained how he came to join the separatist forces. In 2016, Givi was charged in Ukraine with crimes including the creation of a terrorist organization, abduction, and abuse of prisoners of war.
More local separatists being turfed out, it seems:
Some of you may remember these videos of Givi, which helped fuel his notoriety:
Here's some footage of him and Motorola haranguing a captive:
Here's the BBC reporting on Givi's demise:
Here's another news item, this time from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Exhibition On Post-Euromaidan Ukraine Vandalized In Kyiv
KYIV -- Unknown individuals have vandalized an arts exhibition in Kyiv devoted to the situation in Ukraine since protests ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych three years ago.
Officials at the Center for Visual Arts Culture told RFE/RL that 15 masked men ransacked the arts exhibition Lost Opportunity by artist Davyd Chychkan late in the afternoon of February 7.
"All the art works were destroyed...They drew some graffiti on the walls, took some works with them, broke a wall and then ran away," the officials said.
The graffiti left by the attackers said "Slaves of the Separatists!" and "Moscow's Mouthpiece!"
An investigation has been launched.
A pro-Western government came to power after the Euromaidan protests forced Moscow-friendly Yanukovych to flee in February 2014.
Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and backed separatists in the country’s east in a war against Kyiv's forces that has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014.