The serviceman was identified as "Valery T.," described as a "captain first rank" in the Black Sea Fleet and the former chief of staff for the missile ship brigade. Both Baza and a Kyiv source reported that the bomb exploded on Taras Shevchenko Street, named after Ukraine's most renowned poet. Baza also published photos of a car’s wreckage.
Several prominent Russian figures supportive of the war have been assassinated since its beginning, in attacks Moscow has attributed to Ukraine. These include journalist Darya Dugina, war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, and former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky. All of these individuals, as well as Trankovsky, were listed on Myrotvorets (Peacemaker), an unofficial Ukrainian database marking individuals considered adversaries of the country. On Wednesday, Trankovsky’s photo on the site was updated with the word "Liquidated" in red.
In December, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the Soviet KGB, claimed it had dismantled a network of Ukrainian agents in Crimea linked to assassination attempts on pro-Russian figures. Alleged targets included Sergei Aksyonov, Crimea’s Moscow-appointed head, and former pro-Russian Ukrainian parliament member Oleg Tsaryov. Despite being shot twice in an October attack in Crimea, Tsaryov survived. At the time, a source in Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency told Reuters the operation was carried out by the SBU. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.