A Ukrainian official has announced on Facebook that law enforcement authorities have detained the personal bodyguard of former separatist leader Igor Strelkov.
"Yesterday in Konstantinovka, a special operations group of the Interior Ministry, after fierce fighting and resistance, detained the personal bodyguard of the terrorist Girkin [Strelkov] — Alexei Vladimirovich Sh. Year of birth 1980," wrote Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the head of Ukraine's Interior Ministry.
Gerashchenko described the incident in great detail, presenting the news as retaliation for reports of pro-Russian separatists parading Ukrainian prisoners of war through the streets of central Donetsk on Sunday.
"I will tell those terrorists who are still alive and their puppet masters a different story, about what awaits them if there is a good outcome — if they're lucky, so to speak," Gerashchenko wrote before describing the special operation to detain the suspect.
Police officers pretended to be utility workers when approaching the suspect, Gerashchenko said, though the gambit failed and the suspect opened fire on officers anyway. In the ensuing battle, the suspect was wounded but received medical assistance, the official added.
"I should note that the terrorist was in a state of extreme intoxication and that seems to be his chronic condition for the fifth month now," Gerashchenko said.
The suspect now faces charges of murder and attempted murder in Ukraine, though it was unclear whether he had already been transported to Kiev to face trial.
"I think now we will find out the secret of Strelkov-Girkin's disappearance and many other details about the crimes of terrorists, starting with the seizure of the Slovyansk police department, and maybe even details from earlier events," Gerashchenko wrote.
Strelkov was a commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic before relinquishing his post in mid-August, along with several other rebel leaders. In the same week, Alexander Borodai of Donetsk and Valery Bolotov of the Luhansk People's Republic also stepped down.
Bolotov was the only Ukrainian citizen among them, as Borodai and Strelkov held Russian citizenship, a fact that some said added credence to Western claims that they were acting on behalf of the Kremlin.
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