MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. A former acting commander of one of the units of Ukraine’s special operations forces who, without coordination, tried to conduct an operation to seize a plane of Russia’s Aerospace Force last summer, thus evoking a missile counterstrike on a Ukrainian airfield, has been charged in Ukraine with exceeding his authority, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Friday.
The former acting commander of one of the units of the special operations forces, Roman Chervinsky, has been charged with arbitrary actions, which led to missile attacks against the Kanatovo airfield in Kirovograd Region in the summer of 2022, the SBU said on its Telegram channel. The officer was charged with exceeding his authority.
It is reported that the plan for the special operation had not been approved by the SBU or the Main Department of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense. The accused decided to act at his own discretion. This resulted in a leak of data regarding the deployment of military personnel and equipment at the Kanatovo airfield. As a result of the strike on this facility, the commander of the military unit was killed and 17 servicemen were wounded, two fighter planes were destroyed and the runway was damaged.
Thwarted highjack
On July 25 last year, Russia's federal security service (FSB) said that it had disrupted a Ukrainian military intelligence operation to hijack Russian Air Force aircraft. The operation was masterminded by NATO special services. According to the FSB, Ukrainian military intelligence officers tried to recruit Russian military pilots for a cash reward and guarantees of citizenship of one of the European Union’s countries. The pilots were urged to highjack planes to Ukrainian airfields. The FSB pointed out that the counter-intelligence’s success to thwart these plans also made it possible to hit a number of Ukrainian military facilities. Also, Ukrainian special service officers involved in the operation and their accomplices were identified.
In late July, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Russian troops had hit Ukrainian planes at a military airfield in Kirovograd Region with long-range high accuracy sea-and air-launched weapons.