A Russian scientist known for developing cruise missiles has been found shot dead in a snowy wooded area near Moscow.

Kyiv’s intelligence service claimed it had assassinated Mikhail Shatsky, a deputy director of a Moscow-based ballistics engineering unit.

“Anyone who is involved in the development of the Russian military-industrial complex and support of Russian aggression in Ukraine one way or another is a legitimate target,” a Ukrainian defence source told the Kyiv Independent.

The Russian authorities, propagandists and mainstream news channels have not commented.

Photographs published by pro-Ukraine channels on the Telegram social messaging system showed a man wearing jeans and a black coat lying in blood-drenched snow. 

It was not possible to identify the body as Shatsky, although a close-up of the face showed the dead man wore his trademark dark moustache.