Nikita Klenkov, 44, was reportedly gunned down inside of a car in the village of Melenki in the Moscow region.

A Russian military officer who had recently returned from fighting in Ukraine has been assassinated in what looks like an organised hit in a village in the Moscow region, the TASS state news agency reported on Wednesday.

A high-ranking officer in Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), Nikita Klenkov, was shot dead in Moscow Oblast, according to reports by Russian state-controlled media on October 16. The 44-year-old Klenkov served as the deputy commander of GRU unit 43292,

Smoke was seen in the air above the Chkalovsky airfield which was also hit by a massive fire in September 2023.