A recent report suggests that Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on October 10 were not necessarily retaliation for the explosion of the Kerch Strait bridge.
Several engineers, software experts, and even game designers have been involved in attacks against Ukraine’s civilian and energy infrastructure.
A team of investigative journalists Bellingcat (you are switching to another service) together with the German newspaper Der Spiegel and the investigative journalism publication The Insider has revealed the persons who are suspected of being responsible for the planning and execution of the Russian missile strikes in October.
The report reveals that behind the attacks was a chain of command, which was led from the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Moscow and the headquarters of the Navy in St. Petersburg.
The chain of command included at least 30 people
Bellingcat found out that at the top of the chain of command, the execution of the operation was led by a major general Robert Baranov. At least 30 people worked under him.
According to Bellingcat information, Lt. Col Igor Begnyuk was responsible for planning and coordinating the attacks. Based on phone data, reporters concluded that Begnyuk gave the orders to carry out the October 10 attacks.
Three groups worked under Begnyuk. Each group consisted of about ten people.
According to the report, the researchers say that the team members were responsible for programming the flight paths of the Kalibr, R-500 and KH-101 cruise missiles so that they would hit the targets specified by the military leadership.
The actual missiles were fired from Russian naval bases, air bases and platforms whose location is unknown.
Begnyuk had numerous IT experts working under him. Some had military experience, but some of the younger workers were recruited from the civilian side.
Investigators found that some of the group’s members worked at the command center of the Russian Armed Forces in Damascus, Syria, between 2016 and 2021.
According to Bellingcat, the individuals are suspected of having participated in the planning and implementation of Russian airstrikes in Syria.
The attacks were planned before the Kerch Strait bridge explosion
The team of journalists has examined, among other things, the phone records of members of Russian groups and concluded that they participated in the planning and execution of the massive attacks on October 10 from Moscow and St. Petersburg.
It turned out that the telephone communication between the members of the groups and between commanders and subordinates increased significantly between the 2nd and the 9th. between October, i.e. just before the attacks.
According to the authors of the report, based on phone data, it seems that the attacks were planned and prepared days before the explosion on the Kerch Strait bridge.
On October 8, an explosion occurred on the bridge connecting Crimea and Russia, for which Russia has blamed the Ukrainian intelligence service SBU.
Ukraine has not admitted that it carried out the attack.
On Monday, October 10, Russia fired more than 80 missiles into different parts of Ukraine. The biggest attacks targeted the capital city of Kyiv, but explosions were also observed in at least Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Khmelnytskyi, Žytomyr and Kropyvnytskyi.
At least 10 people died and at least 60 were injured in the attacks.
In addition, thousands were left without electricity when 11 important infrastructure sites in eight regions across the country were destroyed by Russian attacks.
Experts have considered it likely that the missile strikes by Russia would have been revenge for the explosion of the Kerch Strait bridge.
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