Putin missile scientist 'gunned down in Moscow by Ukrainian hit squad'

A leading Putin missile scientist has reportedly been gunned down in a Moscow park by a Ukrainian military assassin.

Mikhail Shatsky, the Deputy Chief Designer at the Mars Design Bureau, which develops and manufactures onboard guidance systems for the Russian military and space industry, was allegedly eliminated by an unknown assassin in Kuzminsky forest park, at Kotelniki, eight miles southeast of the Kremlin.

Reports say the scientist, an associate professor, was working actively on upgrading the Russian Kh-59 cruise missile to the Kh-69 level, which Russian troops use to strike Ukraine.

There was immediate speculation that he was assassinated by Ukrainian military intelligence.

'Today, the GUR forces in Moscow eliminated a particularly malicious criminal - Deputy General Designer, Head of the Software Department of the Mars Design Bureau, Mikhail Shatsky,' reported exiled Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov.

'He was involved in upgrading the Kh-59 cruise missiles to the Kh-69 level, introducing new UAVs, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians.'

Nevzorov also published macabre pictures of a man's body lying in the snow.

Russian APN news agency reported: 'As a result of the shooting in Kotelniki on December 11, Mikhail Shatsky, the head of the software department of the Mars Design Bureau, was killed.

'He was engaged in the modernisation of the X-59 cruise missiles and developed the latest types of UAVs [military drones].

'Ukrainian nationalists claimed responsibility for the murder.'

There was no immediate official Russian statement.

Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne said it had received confirmation from Ukrainian 'special services' that Shatsky had been 'eliminated'.

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Footage showed Russian emergency services arriving at the snow-covered scene.

Earlier, there had been reports of a shooting at the park location on Tuesday without any identification of the victim.

'Budanov has long arms,' said Nevzorov, referring to the head of the GUR, Ukrainian general Kyrylo Budanov.

'It seems that none of those guilty of the genocide of Ukrainians will die a natural death'. 

The Kh-59 has been more closely linked to the Raduga Design Bureau than to Mars, which Shatsky worked for.

But Mars had been involved in the modernisation and production of control systems for booster units and onboard control systems for Raduga-designed missiles like the Kh-59 and Kh-69.

Raduga specialises in the development and production of cruise missiles for various purposes.

In addition to the specialisation, Shatsky also developed and predicted the reliability of onboard control systems for spacecraft based on the theory of neural networks, as well as many other issues related to spacecraft.

Both the Kh-59 and Kh-69 air-launched cruise missiles have been widely used by Putin's forces against Ukraine in the war.

It comes as Russia threatened to fire another of its hypersonic ballistic missiles at Ukraine 'in days,' the United States warned on Wednesday.

President Vladimir Putin has a handful of the experimental missiles, known as Oreshnik, or hazel tree. 

He claims the missile is impossible to intercept and that it has destructive power comparable to that of a nuclear weapon, even when fitted with a conventional warhead.

It's capable of destroying underground bunkers 'three, four or more floors down,' Putin boasted last month, threatening to use it against the government district in Kyiv.

But the Oreshnik, an experimental missile, is seen by American officials more as an attempt at intimidation than a game-changer.

'We assess that the Oreshnik is not a game-changer on the battlefield, but rather just another attempt by Russia to terrorize Ukraine, which will fail,' an official told Reuters.