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Russia Tried to Kill Ukrainian Defense Adviser—He Says It May Have Opened “Pandora’s Box”
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
A Ukrainian defense adviser has claimed that Russian operators of Shahed strike drones attempted to track and kill him, warning that such actions could open the door to retaliation, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Minister, said on April 23.
A Russian-affiliated channel linked to drone operators had published a detailed account describing how they had tried to locate and target him—before deleting the post later the same day.
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“A Russian channel run by operators of Shahed drones published a long post about how they were looking for me, why, and how they tried to kill me (I took screenshots). But by the evening, it was deleted,” he said.
According to Beskrestnov, the post was likely removed because it effectively amounted to a public admission of deliberate targeting.
“Obviously, their leadership didn’t like it. Why? Because they opened a ‘Pandora’s box’ by creating a precedent. We also have enough deep-strike capabilities and operational data on who and where Russian war criminals live,” he said.
He argued that openly targeting individuals—particularly outside active combat zones—risks escalating the war into a more direct form of retaliation.
The adviser also described the reported attempt to direct strike drones toward a private residence as a serious military and political miscalculation.
But Russia is not only targeting Ukrainian electronic warfare specialists. Recently, Russian forces carried out a large-scale overnight drone attack on the city of Dnipro, striking residential areas and causing casualties.
The number of injured rose again by morning, reaching ten people. Four are hospitalized in moderate condition. Among them are two children—girls aged 9 and 14.
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-26c3ce3ef332d23b12897922fd6165c8.jpg "A photograph of a Russian commander’s working map detailing troop distributions for the 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, overlaid with the yellow logo of the “Atesh” partisan movement. (Source: Atesh)")