Senior Ukrainian security official found dead with gunshot wounds, investigation launched

A regional head of Ukraine's Security Service was found dead in his home, the Ukrainian Special Prosecutors office in the military and defence sphere of the Southern region said on Saturday. Oleksandr Nakonechny, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kirovohrad region, was found dead by his wife in one of the rooms in their apartment after she heard gunshots on August 20, Ukrainska Pravda reported. The Kropyvnytsky district police department has launched an investigation into the death, Ukrainian Special Prosecutors Office said in a Facebook post.

"According to the investigation, 20.08.2022, around 22:25 pm., while in her own apartment, the lieutenant colonel's wife heard the sound of gunshots and found in one of the rooms the body of a man with a gunshot wound with no signs of life," it said. It further stated that emergency investigative actions had been taken post the incident. The death of Oleksandr Nakonechny comes amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine which has transcended 160 days. 

"The pre-trial investigation of criminal proceedings is carried out by the investigators of the Kropyvnytsky District Police Department of the Gu NP in Kirovohrad region," Ukraine's Special Prosecutors office in the military and defence sphere of the Southern region said in a Facebook post. 

Ukraine claims Russia lost 45,200 soldiers since onset of war 

As the war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated, the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Sunday, August 21, claimed that 45,200 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine since the onset of the war on February 24. In a Facebook post, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that the Russian Army has lost 1912 tanks, 4224 armoured combat vehicles, 1028 artillery systems, and 266 multiple rocket launchers. The military equipment losses faced by Russian forces include 141 anti-aircraft warfare systems, 3143 vehicles and fuel tanks, 99 special equipment, and 190 cruise missiles. Russian troops have lost 806 unmanned aerial vehicles, 234 aircraft, 197 helicopters, and 15 warships/boats between February 24 to August 20. 

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