Russia-Ukraine conflict: As per officials, a senior Russian naval officer was killed in Mariupol

*Paromita Das

On Sunday, March 20, officials announced that a deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was killed in action in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

“Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paly was killed in the fighting to liberate Mariupol from Ukrainian Nazis,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.

Paly, according to Razvozhayev, was an “open and decent person” who “enjoyed great authority in the fleet.”

Despite this, media reports claim that Russian officials have only just confirmed the news, despite Ukraine’s earlier claim that Paly was murdered.

For the uninitiated, Sevastopol is a Crimean port city and the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. In 2014, Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

Paly’s death was also confirmed in the Russian upper parliamentary house by Sevastopol lawmaker Yekaterina Altabaeva.

“Sevastopol has suffered a heavy, irreparable loss,” Altabaeva said on Telegram, adding that Paly died during “battles for Mariupol’s liberation from Nazis.”

Paly’s death date has not been revealed, and there has been no immediate confirmation from Russia’s defense ministry.

Russia, which has been conducting military operations in Ukraine since February 24, has insisted that its neighbor will never join NATO and has called for its “demilitarisation” and “denazification.”