Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London He also covers other areas of geopolitics including China Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 from the International Business Times and well as English You can get in touch with Brendan by emailing b.cole@newsweek.com or follow on him on his X account @brendanmarkcole either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content A high-level manager from a Russian company that develops missiles used in Moscow's war with Ukraine has been killed deputy general designer of the Mars Design Bureau and head of its software department according to the Astra Telegram channel and other Russian and Ukrainian sources The firm Shatsky worked for develops and manufactures onboard guidance systems for the Russian military and space industry it has been under a department of the state corporation Rosatom Information appeared online that top engineer behind the modernization of X-69 missiles and the development of new drones was allegedly killed in Moscow. Russian Telegram channels report that Mikhail Shatskiy, deputy Designer General at Mars experimental design office was shot… pic.twitter.com/BYZIx92F18 Ukrainian outlets noted that Shatsky was involved in the modernization of the Kh-59 and Kh-69 missiles which Russia has repeatedly used to strike at targets in Ukraine An unnamed Kyiv security source told Ukrainian outlet Suspilne that everyone "in one way or another involved in the development of the Russian military-industrial complex and thus supports Russian aggression against Ukraine is a legitimate target." Suspilne also reported that Shatsky had helped develop unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVS) for Russia's military Newsweek contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment Shatsky was shot dead in Kuzminsky Forest in the southeast of Moscow region and the shooter managed to escape from the scene "While the information has not yet been confirmed on December 10 there were reports of a shooting in the suburbs of Moscow that left one middle-aged man dead," Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko wrote on X "Videos of an ambulance arriving on the scene were posted online." Shatsky is the latest prominent figure in Russia's military-industrial complex who has been found dead in unexplained circumstances who was the deputy head of a military unit and officer of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) was shot while he was in a car in the village of Melenki in the Moscow region Klenkov's GRU unit 43292 was a training center for Russia's Special Operations Forces (SOF) and he had returned from Ukraine's front line only a week before In July this year, Magomed Khandayev, who had served as head of the state examination department of Russia's defense ministry since June 2023, died unexpectedly at the age of 61 ET: This article has been updated with further information Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all A Russian missile designer was shot dead in a forest park in the Moscow region, according to Ukraine media reports Thursday Journalist Alexander Nevzorov was first to report the death and he shared photos of a man resembling Shatsky dead in the snow The shooting is said to have happened in the Kuzminsky forest park near the town of Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast The assassination has not been independently verified appears to show police officers arriving at the scene On December 10, a highly dangerous criminal was shot dead in Moscow: Mikhail Shatsky, the deputy chief designer and head of the software department at the "Mars" Design Bureau. Shatsky was involved in upgrading Russian X-59 cruise missiles to the X-69 variant and introducing new… pic.twitter.com/qm6PVx3fq0 Commenting on the attack on his Telegram account Nevzorov suggested the involvement of Ukraine’s secret service head Kyrylo Budanov “It seems that none of those guilty of the genocide of Ukrainians will die a natural death,” he added Shatsky was also involved in space research Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here On December 10, a highly dangerous criminal was shot dead in Moscow: Mikhail Shatsky, the deputy chief designer and head of the software department at the "Mars" Design Bureau. Shatsky was involved in upgrading Russian X-59 cruise missiles to the X-69 variant and introducing new… pic.twitter.com/qm6PVx3fq0 He also worked for the Daily Mail as a crime writer and senior foreign correspondent covering the first Gulf War—where he was the first British print journalist into Baghdad—and traveling around the world on assignments for the newspaper He founded an international news agency in New York and moved to California as the Mail’s Los Angeles correspondent which saw him cover five presidential elections and all the biggest U.S His book 9/11: The Conspiracy Theories was a Sunday Times bestseller His other books include The Last of the Hitlers an account of how he discovered the last descendants of the German dictator living in the United States in which he investigated some of the most famous celebrity deaths in recent history deputy general designer of the Mars Design Bureau and head of the software department He was engaged in the modernization of Kh-59 missiles to the Kh-69 level which Russian troops use to strike Ukraine RBC-Ukraine has gathered all the information about Shatsky's elimination in the report below Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov was the first to report Shatsky's death the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine was behind the operation the Defense Intelligence in Moscow eliminated a particularly harmful criminal Head of the Software Department of the Mars Design Bureau Mikhail Shatsky,” Nevzorov said on his Telegram channel Shatsky was engaged in the modernization of Kh-59 cruise missiles to the Kh-69 level and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians The information about the liquidation of this Russian official was confirmed to RBC-Ukraine by sources in the Ukrainian Defense Forces The interlocutors also said that it was a Defense Intelligence of Ukraine's operation is modernizing and manufacturing control systems for upper stages and onboard control systems for the Raduga cruise missiles under the state defense order Raiduga specializes in the development and production of cruise missiles for various purposes Shatsky also developed and predicted the reliability of onboard control systems for spacecraft based on the theory of neural networks as well as many other issues related to spacecraft.