An officer from Vladikavkaz, who helped bomb Mariupol, was killed in an explosion in Stavropol

In the early hours of Thursday, an explosion tore through a residential quarter in Stavropol, killing two men, including the city’s First Deputy Mayor, Zaur Gurtsiev.

Preliminary findings suggest that a homemade explosive device, affixed to the body of the other victim, 29-year-old Nikita Penkov, was detonated. The device, reportedly packed with pneumatic pellets, had an estimated yield of up to 300 grams of TNT equivalent. The blast wave also damaged several parked vehicles.

According to CCTV footage, Penkov approached Gurtsiev shortly before the powerful explosion occurred. Penkov was killed instantly, while Gurtsiev succumbed to his injuries en route to hospital.

The Investigative Committee of Stavropol Krai reported about conducting a comprehensive forensic examination of the scene and considering any hypotheses, including a terrorist act involving Ukrainian intelligence services.

Governor Vladimir Vladimirov confirmed that ‘all possible versions are being considered, including the organisation of a terror attack by Ukrainian Nazis’.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the incident, but there have been a spate of targeted assassinations of military officials in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some, but not all, of these attempted and successful attacks.

Searches have already been carried out at Penkov’s flat, but no explosive materials were found; his mobile phone and laptop were seized for forensic analysis.

The FSB-linked Telegram channel VChK-OGPU claimed that Gurtsiev and Penkov first met on a gay dating website. Investigators reportedly discovered intimate messages and nude photographs exchanged between them. The deputy mayor is said to have invited his new acquaintance to spend time together on several occasions, but each meeting was postponed due to Gurtsiev’s official duties. Two weeks before the blast, Penkov rented an apartment in the same building as Gurtsiev.

Preliminary information suggests that Penkov was hired to gather compromising material on Gurtsiev and was supplied with ‘special equipment’ capable of transmitting visual data. The explosive device was allegedly concealed within this ‘spy gadget.’

According to the independent Russian media outlet Agentstvo, in 2023 Penkov served in the Separate Guard and Convoy Battalion of the Stavropol City Police. Before that, he worked as a technologist at the Stavropol Brewery. After leaving the police force, he had no official employment, as reported by the Telegram channel Shot. Telegram-channel Mash reported that around ten years ago Penkov served in the Russian Airborne Forces (VDV).

Zaur Gurtsiev, a native of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia, was 34. He had served in the Russian Army, rising to the rank of Major and overseeing the coordination of air strikes. During the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in spring 2022, Gurtsiev commanded the ‘airborne component’ of the assault: his unit carried out precision strikes, synchronising attack aircraft with ground troops to encircle the city completely.

His unit has been accused of targeting civilian infrastructure in Mariupol, striking residential districts, hospitals, and the drama theatre where hundreds of civilians were sheltering. The Ukrainian government condemned these actions as ‘war crimes’ and vowed to prosecute all those responsible once the region was liberated.

For his role in the bombing of Mariupol, Gurtsiev was awarded the Order of Courage and the Medal of Zhukov. After returning from the front, in September 2024 he joined President Putin’s ‘Time of Heroes’ programme, which allows veterans of the war in Ukraine to assume public office, and was appointed First Deputy Mayor of Stavropol.

Ukrainian authorities estimate that at least 22,000–25,000 people were killed in the fighting for Mariupol, of whom 5,000–7,000 perished under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet issued an official statement on Gurtsiev’s death; however, several Ukrainian Telegram channels have already described it as ‘symbolic retribution.’

In recent months, Russian authorities have repeatedly accused Ukrainian intelligence services of involvement in the deaths of senior Russian officers on home soil, including Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defence Forces (December 2024), and Yaroslav Moskalyk, Deputy Director of the General Staff’s Operations Directorate (April 2025).

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