© Telegram / Aleksandr KamyshinYaroslav ‘Loki’ Oleynik
The news of the death of the 28-year-old official was announced on Sunday by Kamyshin's former deputy Anna Gvozdyar and corroborated by the ex-minister himself. Oleynik's wife Nina reportedly died in the same accident.
News outlet Strana claimed that it learned details of the incident from a source in Ukrainian law enforcement. According to the source, Oleynik's Mitsubishi Pajero was rammed head-on by a Mitsubishi L-200 driven by another military service member.
The other driver had reportedly run over a wild boar and skidded into the opposite lane. While the Oleyniks were said to have died at the scene, a third person survived the collision and is being treated in hospital. The incident occurred just before midnight on Saturday in Zhitomir Region, the source said.
In interviews, Oleynik has described his role in the government as being in charge of the ministry's entire drone development effort. He previously served as a drone operator in the Ukrainian military and was an active supporter of the war effort.
Just last week, Kamyshin claimed that Ukraine had achieved major success in ramping up domestic arms manufacturing and lamented that the lack of money prevented it from doing more. It was "embarrassing" for him not to make more weapons, he told CNN. He also accompanied Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky to Germany to take part in a meeting with Western officials on weapons donations.
After leaving the Ukrainian cabinet, Kamyshin joined Zelensky's office as an adviser on strategic affairs. His immediate plans involved lobbying the International Chess Federation to ostracize Russia.
Ukraine's drone force suffered a serious blow last Tuesday when a Russian missile strike hit a military training center in the city of Poltava. The attack killed recruits and instructors specializing in several key areas, including unmanned warfare, and led to the suspension of Roman Gladky as commander of Ukrainian drone operations.
Reader Comments
Nothing is impossible in those days ...
What kind of probability would be involved in a military vehicle avoiding a boar creating a head on collision with the drone developer? As noted by evilbughead, is Zelensky cleaning house?
I suppose the hog never existed ... Although I doubt that. I would say he was a technician and organizer, not a political hack and influencer. Probably loyal, and without visible tendencies to ascend the hierarchy ladder. But I might be wrong here.
But the area of drones is the only one the Ukrainians could keep up with the Russians, at least in terms of effectivity. Not in term of numbers, though.
Losing him might be a serious blow to the whole drone operation business. Which makes me believe the Russian side might actually be involved. Only not in form of a hog ...
Some of the even voluntarily "rat out" military transports, troup locations and accomodations, so that the Russians can eliminate them. The Russian side calls it the "Ukrainian underground", analog to the partisans in WWII.