Russian media reports that a commander of Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has been killed by an explosion in his apartment building in Donetsk. Arseny Pavlov, a Russian citizen who went by the nickname “Motorola,” led a separatist unit known as the Sparta battalion. Kyiv had accused him of war crimes for killing prisoners of war. In an interview with RFE/RL’s Current Time TV in 2015, a Ukrainian soldier said he witnessed Motorola executing a fellow POW named Ihor. When questioned about the claim, Motorola denied that he executed POWs. (RFE/RL’s Current Time TV) …read more