On 1 October, the Ukrainian “Baba Yaga” legendary drone reportedly hit the head of the Russian-installed occupation chief of Nova Kakhovka city, Vladimir Leontiev. This was reported by the illegal governor of the Kherson Oblast, Vladimir Saldo.
Nova Kakhovka has been under occupation since 24 February 2022 — the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The occupiers established control over the city, launched russification, and residents suffered torture.
In addition, under occupation, the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, located near the city, was destroyed. According to researchers, the destruction is strikingly similar to the effects of a 5–10 kiloton tactical nuclear bomb.
“This morning, during an attack by an enemy Baba Yaga drone, the head of the Council of Deputies of Nova Kakhovka, Volodymyr Leontiev, was injured,” Saldo wrote on social media.
Ukrainian “Baba Yaga” — the nightmare of Russian occupiers
The “Baba Yaga” is a Ukrainian bomber drone that usually flies at night with the roar of a chainsaw, striking Russian warehouses, armored vehicles, and troops. The drones’ psychological impact on Russian soldiers is no less significant than their real combat effectiveness.
According to the occupiers themselves, the “Baba Yaga” has become “death on the wings of night” for them.
This drone is resistant to electronic warfare interference and so effective that Russian soldiers are proposing a 10-day leave for shooting it down. The Baba Yaga is capable of carrying munitions weighing 20–40 pounds and hitting targets up to 20 kilometers away.
Leontiev, convicted by a Ukrainian court
Vladimir Leontiev became a collaborator after the occupation of Nova Kakhovka in March 2022. He actively cooperated with the Russian military and personally gave orders against Ukrainian patriots.
In March 2022, Leontiev ordered Russian occupiers to kidnap and torture the mayor of Beryslav, Oleksandr Shapovalov. For this, he was sentenced by a Ukrainian court to 15 years in prison.
In April 2022, he was charged with collaboration, and in the summer of the same year, again, for involvement in the abduction of investigative journalist Oleh Baturin, a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
“The interrogations were brutal. They tried to pin terrorist activity and everything else imaginable on me,” Baturin later recalled.
In 2024, Leontiev was finally sentenced to 12 years in prison for the unlawful detention of a local newspaper journalist, the mayor of Tavriysk, and the secretary of the Nova Kakhovka city council.
Leontiev’s condition after the drone strike
At first, the collaborator was in the hospital in serious condition. An hour later, Saldo revealed that doctors were unable to save him.
“With great sorrow, I report that Volodymyr Pavlovych Leontiev has died in the hospital from his sustained injuries,” he said.
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