On May 2, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Wagner PMC, said that the commander of the Ukrainian territorial defense Igor Tantsyura was allegedly killed in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) region. Her words caused press service of the entrepreneur.
“When the reserves from the settlement of Chasov Yar approached the settlement of Bakhmut, the artillery units of the Wagner PMC destroyed an armored car, which was probably the commander of the regional defense forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Igor Ivanovich Tantsyura. , found,” said Prigozhin.
He noted that it seems that Tantsyura was on his way to Artemovsk, emphasizing that information about his death is now beginning to become clear.
About 40 minutes after Prigozhin’s statement, Denis Zelinsky, spokesman for the command of the territorial defense forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, denied his words to the Ukrainian publication Suspіlna.
“We officially reject this claim. We do not comment on any enemy propaganda. “Everyone is alive and well,” said a representative of Ukraine Terodefense.
Also, the death of a soldier was denied by the head of the public relations service of the regional defense forces command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Aleksey Dmitrashkovsky. “I just spoke to General Tantsyura. Alive, healthy, whatever he wants for everybody,” he said.
After that, Prigozhin said through the press service, regarding the denial of the death of Tantsyura, “We will continue to work.”
Igor Tantsyura, 56-year-old Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was appointed commander of the territorial defense forces by President Volodymyr Zelensky in May 2022. Brigadier General Yuri Galushkin replaced Tantsyur in this post.
It is known that Tansyura was born in the Kozeletsky district of the Chernihiv region of Ukraine. There is almost no information about his childhood and youth in open sources. In 2003-2005 he commanded the 1st separate tank brigade.
In 2013, he was the head of the 169th training center “Desna” of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2019, the Chief of the General Staff – First Deputy Commander of the “Joint Forces Operation” (this is how Kiev called the complex of military forces and activities involved in hostilities in the Donbass since 2014). Before being appointed to his current post, Tantsyura was Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Territorial defense (TrO) is a separate branch of forces that is part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Their main tasks are to deploy the main group of troops, protect the state border and defend the population and the territory of the country until the enemy takes action against sabotage groups.
At the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, the TRO included 25 brigades (one for each region), uniting 150 battalions (one for each region). According to Kiev, at the beginning of 2022 the regional defense forces consisted of 130,000 fighters. They were based on the army that participated in the hostilities in the Donbass.
Since the beginning of the NMD, the regional defense forces have been fully involved in armed operations. In addition, mobilization soldiers are often registered there.
The actions of individual representatives and regional defense units, both in Ukraine and in Russia, have been repeatedly criticized over the past year. In particular, they were accused of collecting money from the people who wanted to leave the war zones, armed robbery and bullying of civilians.