The car carried a Russian colonel and his driver. Then a Ukrainian drone found it, and both men were evacuated to a Russian military hospital with grave injuries.
The passenger was Colonel Dmitry Shabaev, commander of Russia’s 64th brigade. The 423rd Separate Unmanned Systems Regiment, known as the “Scythian Griffins,” claimed the strike, and Ukrainian outlets reported it on August 21 and 22, 2026. Where exactly the vehicle was hit depends on the account: Armyinform put it about 50 kilometers from the front line, Euromaidan Press about 80.
Tracked, then struck
Armyinform said regiment intelligence followed Shabaev’s movements for an extended period before the drone went in, and that the unit verified his identity afterward. UNIAN, citing Ukrainian intelligence, said the hit came while he was inspecting Russian command positions in the Zaporizhzhia sector.
The regiment was blunt about his prospects. “If military doctors manage to save him, given the nature of his injuries, this colonel’s combat career appears to be over,” it stated.
Why this brigade
The 64th brigade is the formation most closely tied to atrocities in Bucha in spring 2022. Ukrainian authorities say “637 civilians were killed” in the town during the Russian occupation, and Euromaidan Press added that 460 infrastructure facilities were damaged or destroyed. UNIAN reported that the brigade has also been implicated in alleged war crimes in Andriivka, another town near Kyiv.
The brigade is still fighting. It sits in Russia’s southern grouping across the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, UNIAN said, under the 35th Combined Arms Army.
A deliberate shift in targets
Regiment commander Colonel Vitalii Hersak said the strike reflects a change of priorities since the unit became a separate regiment. “I set the guys a strategic task to focus especially on working the command posts of enemy brigades and battalions,” he said. “This is only the beginning. To be continued.”
Sources
- Ukrainian drone unit seriously wounded Colonel Dmitry Shabaev, commander of Russia's 64th brigade tied to 2022 Bucha atrocities that killed 637 civilians
- Retribution for Bucha: Russian brigade commander severely wounded (Armyinform)
- Fighters of the Scythian Griffins regiment hunted down a high-ranking Russian military criminal (UNIAN)
