Ukrainian drone unit seriously wounded Colonel Dmitry Shabaev, commander of Russia’s 64th brigade, tied to 2022 Bucha atrocities that killed 637 civilians

Ukraine has hit the commander of a Russian brigade notorious for one of the war's worst atrocities. The 423rd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment "Scythian Griffons" struck the car of Dmitry Shabaev, commander of Russia's 64th brigade, seriously wounding him, the regiment reported.

The target commands the unit most associated with the killing of civilians in Bucha in spring 2022. During the Russian occupation, 637 civilians were killed in the small town of Bucha alone. 460 infrastructure facilities were damaged or destroyed, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office.

The strike hit the commander 80 km behind the front

According to military intelligence, the Russian colonel's movements had been tracked for a long time, and the drone crew hit his service vehicle roughly 80 kilometers from the line of contact.

Both men aboard were badly hurt. Shabaev and his driver received serious injuries, and both were evacuated to a Russian military hospital, the regiment said.

The brigade is tied to Bucha

After the atrocities in Bucha, the brigade remains in the fight. It now forms part of Russia's southern grouping in Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts and continues to commit crimes.

The unit is targeting Russian command posts

The strike reflects a deliberate focus on Russian command. Regiment commander Colonel Vitalii Hersak said that after becoming a separate regiment with strengthened capabilities, the unit set a strategic task of concentrating on the command posts of enemy brigades and battalions.

"After we became a separate regiment and our combat capabilities strengthened, I set the guys a strategic task to focus especially on working the command posts of enemy brigades and battalions. This is only the beginning. To be continued," Hersak said.

Targeting commanders and command posts aims to degrade Russian units by removing the officers who direct them, a higher-value target than the front-line troops they command.