Captain of Russian Black Sea Fleet killed in car bomb explosion in Sevastopol

A car exploded on Taras Shevchenko Street in Sevastopol, Crimea. The driver, a Russian serviceman, died from his injuries.

The victim is believed to be captain of the first rank of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.

The car exploded as a result of the detonation of an improvised bomb that was attached to the bottom of the vehicle.

A criminal case has been opened into a terrorist act committed against a serviceman, the Russian Investigative Committee said.

According to most recent reports, the victim was identified as Captain of the First Rank of the Black Sea Fleet Valeriy T. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was involved in his death, Ukrainian publication Obshchestvennoye said with reference to a source in the SBU.

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The Black Sea Fleet is the fleet of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea. The Black Sea Fleet, along with other Russian ground and air forces on the Crimean Peninsula, are subordinate to the Southern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. The fleet traces its history to its founding by Prince Potemkin on 13 May 1783 as part of the Imperial Russian Navy. The Russian SFSR inherited the fleet in 1918; with the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, it became part of the Soviet Navy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Black Sea Fleet was partitioned between the Russian Federation and Ukraine in 1997, with Russia receiving title to 82% of the vessels. The Black Sea Fleet has its official primary headquarters and facilities at the Sevastopol Naval Base, Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The rest of the fleet's facilities are based in locations on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, including Krasnodar Krai, Rostov Oblast and Crimea.