Former Russian commander Zaur Gurtsiev killed in explosion in Stavropol

According to CBS News, Zaur Gurtsiev, a 34-year-old former Russian commander, was killed in an explosion in Stavropol on the morning of May 29.

"Our hero, the former commander of the special military operation, Zaur Alexandrovich Gurtsiev, has died. An investigation is underway," Stavropol Region Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said.

Zaur Gurtsiev commanded the Russian airstrike on the port city of Mariupol. Photo: Telegram.

Authorities have not yet released a cause for the explosion, but have not ruled out Ukraine as being behind it. Video posted by a Russian Telegram channel shows two men, one of whom is Gurtsiev, standing side by side in a residential area before the explosion.

Stavropol law enforcement agencies said an acquaintance of the former commander was also killed.

Mr Gurtsiev is deputy mayor of Stavropol. He commanded Russia's air strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

It is known that many high-ranking officers of the Russian Army have been killed since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February 2022.

In December, the head of the Russian military's biological and chemical weapons unit, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was killed along with his deputy in an explosion in Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said at the time. More recently, in April 2025, another explosion in Moscow killed a senior Russian general, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik.

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