Aleksandr Muzychko
© UnknownAleksandr Muzychko killed in Rovno, Western Ukraine
Notorious Ukrainian right-wing militant leader Aleksandr Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bilyi, has reportedly been shot dead in western Ukraine, where he coordinated actions of local groups belonging to the nationalist Right Sector movement.

Muzychko was killed in Rovno, western Ukraine, according to reports in the Ukrainian mass media.

A Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada MP, Aleksandr Doniy, was among the first to write about Muzychko's death.

"His car was cut off by two other cars. He was dragged out and placed in one of those cars. Then he was thrown on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and [he received] two shots in his heart," Doniy wrote on Facebook.

There are differing accounts as to how Muzychko died.

Dead Ukrainien militant Aleksandr Muzychko
© Twitter user Yaroshevsky
A Rovno news website VSE cited witnesses saying he was killed by unknown gunmen in a shootout at a local café. The website also says several bullet shells have been found at the café and the place has been cordoned off by police investigating the incident.

Right Sector activist Yaroslav Granitny told uapress.info he saw the dead body and was sure it was Muzychko. He added that five people were kidnapped by those who killed the ultra-right leader - three militants from Right Sector and two civilians.

Muzychko himself earlier said he believed he could be killed. In a video address recently posted on YouTube he said that the leadership of "the Prosecutor General's office and the Interior Ministry of Ukraine made a decision to either eliminate me or to capture me and hand me over to Russia, to then blame it all on the Russian intelligence."

The man was known for his radicalism, attacks on local officials during the coup in Kiev, and refusing to give up arms after the new authorities were imposed.

Russia's Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case against Aleksandr Muzychko in early March. The Ukrainian was accused of torturing and murdering at least 20 captured Russian soldiers as he fought alongside Chechen militants.

Under the name Sashko Bilyi, he took an active part in the First Chechen War in 1994-1995, when he headed a group of Ukrainian nationalists fighting against Russian troops.

Aleksandr Muzychko came under the spotlight of the Russian authorities after a series of scandals in Ukraine, when the radical nationalist leader went on with the rampage against regional authorities, lashing out at a local prosecutor, threatening local authorities with an AK-47 and making openly anti-Semitic statements.


Update:
Sashko Bily was fatally injured while being detained by law enforcement authorities, Ukrainian Interior Ministry said in a statement. Link