Russian commander blamed for deadly attack on shopping centre in Ukraine has been bludgeoned to death

A Russian air force commander who was blamed for a devastating attack on a Ukrainian shopping centre has been found bludgeoned to death with a hammer.

Col Dmitry Golenkov, a senior officer in Russia’s 52nd heavy bomber regiment, has been eliminated with a ‘hammer of justice’, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.

Golenkov, whose body was discovered outside the village of Suponevo in Russia’s Bryansk region, is accused of ordering the bombing of a shopping mall that killed 2022 people in June 2022.

The Amstor mall, in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, was packed with civilians and Kyiv said there was no military target in the area.

Golenkov was also blamed for a bombing raid in Dnipro that killed 46 people in January 2023.

This is the moment a Russian missile slammed into the Ukrainian shopping centre in Kremenchuk

Footage at the time revealed the bomb was likely a Russian AS-4 ‘Kitchen’ guided missile – a Soviet-era weapon that was originally designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Smoke rises from the ruins of the Amstor shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, after it was struck by long-range guided missiles in June 2022

Ukraine said on Monday: ‘A Russian Tu-22M3 pilot has been liquidated on the territory of the Russian Federation. 

‘His head was smashed with a hammer.’ 

Golenkov held the position of chief of staff of the aviation squadron, which meant he had an important role in the planning of strikes, Ukraine’s military intelligence said, as first reported in The Telegraph.

‘He was involved in missile strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets,’ it said. 

The commander ordered bomb attacks on Ukraine from his base in Kaluga. 

A video, taken at night, shows the Russian pilot’s body lying face down in shrubland, with his head drenched in blood.

At the time of the Kremenchuk attack, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: ‘The Russian strike today on the shopping centre in Kremenchuk is one of the most brazen terrorist acts in European history.’

Onlookers gather as the shopping centre is engulfed by flames shortly after it was struck by two Russian guided missiles

Giant plumes of black smoke billowed from the shopping centre as it was engulfed in flames, as emergency crews rushed in and onlookers watched in distress.

Zelensky said the target presented ‘no threat to the Russian army’ and had ‘no strategic value.’ 

He accused of Russia of sabotaging ‘people’s attempts to live a normal life, which make the occupiers so angry.’