MOSCOW — A Russian weapons expert who helped to develop cruise missiles used in the Kremlin's war on Ukraine has reportedly been assassinated in a forest in the Moscow region.

Mikhail Shatsky, deputy general designer and head of design at the Mars Design Bureau — which develops missiles used by the Russian military — was shot dead this week in Kuzminsky forest, about 13 kilometers from the Kremlin, according to Ukrainian media.

Exiled Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov posted a photograph on Telegram of a man resembling Shatsky lying dead on blood-stained snow. Similar photographs were published on several pro-Ukraine channels on the messaging app.

Independent Russian outlet Important Stories said it had geolocated the site where the body was found as a 10-minute walk from Shatsky's home near the forest.

In his role at the Moscow-based Mars Design Bureau, Shatsky was said to be responsible for overseeing the modernization of the Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles, which Russia has fired at Ukrainian cities since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022. The engineer had also reportedly been working on AI technology for Russian drones.

Several Ukrainian outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda and the Kyiv Independent, reported the shooting was carried out by Ukraine's military intelligence agency GUR, citing anonymous Ukrainian defense sources.

"Anyone who is involved in the development of the Russian military-industrial complex and support of Russian aggression in Ukraine one way or another is a legitimate target of the (Ukrainian) Defence Forces," one such source told the Kyiv Independent.

Euronews could not independently verify the reporting. There has been no comment from authorities in Moscow or Kyiv.

On Friday, Russia launched a large-scale missile attack on energy infrastructure in western Ukraine, according to Kyiv. It is the latest in a series of attacks that has raised fears that the Kremlin aims to cripple Ukraine's power generation capacity before the cold winter sets in. — Euronews