Putin’s navy captain Stanislav Rzhitsky ‘assassinated’ while jogging year after launching deadly Ukraine missile strike

A RUSSIAN naval captain suspected of being behind a deadly missile strike in Ukraine has been killed. Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, is thought to have been assassinated as he was gunned down while jogging in Krasnodar.  East2WestRussian naval captain Stanislav Rzhitsky has been shot dead[/caption] East2WestHe was suspected of being behind a missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia[/caption] Rzhitsky commanded a submarine that allegedly fired at Ukrainian city Vinnytsia, killing 27, one year ago. Among the victims of the submarine missile bombardment was tragic four-year-old Liza Dmitrieva, who was in a pushchair with her mother Irina who suffered horrific injuries.  Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska knew tragic Liza, one of the three children brutally killed in the Russian strike, from the filming of an earlier Christmas video. Russian investigators believe Rzhitsky’s route was tracked by a jogging app he used, and that the timing of the killing was linked to the upcoming first anniversary of the Kalibr mayhem in Vinnytsia. The ex-captain – who had recently worked as a mobilisation official for Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine –  was shot four times as he ran near the Olympus Arena in Krasnodar city. He was hit in the “back and chest” and died at the scene, with two 9-mm bullets found in his body. Rzhitsky’s watch and headphones were located at the scene, indicating robbery was not the motive, according to news outlet Mash. The gunman shot Rzhitsky in a place without CCTV cameras -but Russian law enforcement issued a picture of a man they say is a suspect in the killing. They believe it was ordered as a revenge attack from Ukraine.  Investigators are searching for “a middle-aged man in a blue cap”, reported Baza media outlet. Ukrainian database Myrotvorets earlier posted that he “directly participates in the military invasion of Ukraine”. The victim was suspected of being the captain of the Krasnodar submarine at the moment it unleashed the Kalibr missile hell on Vinnytsia from the Black Sea. The ex-mayor of Krasnodar Evgeny Pervyshov confirmed: “I knew him as the commander of the Krasnodar submarine. “He was a true patriot, a good man and a loving father.” It remains unclear if he was still captain of the submarine in July 2022 when Vinnytsia was hit, but he is known to have unleashed cruise missiles at ISIS during earlier Russian operations in Syria.