A Russian-appointed official in southeastern Ukraine’s occupied region of Zaporizhzhia was killed in a car bomb attack, a member of the Moscow-backed regional administration said Wednesday.
The assassination of Ivan Sushko, who headed the town of Mykhailivka, is the latest of several attacks against pro-Russian officials in the occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in recent weeks.
“An explosive device was placed under the car seat,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of Zaporizhzhia’s Russian-appointed administration, wrote on messaging app Telegram.
“Ivan Sushko was wounded in the explosion and hospitalized in a critical condition,” Rogov said. “He soon died.”
Sushko’s death follows an attempted car bombing Tuesday on Russian-appointed Kherson region official Igor Telegin, who survived.
Earlier this month, the Moscow-installed head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, was hospitalized in Moscow after what Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed was an attempted poisoning.
His deputy Vitaly Gura was shot and killed a day later.
Responding to Sushko’s assassination, Rogov called Ukraine a “terrorist organization” and called for its “destruction.”
The Kremlin has been pressing ahead with a campaign of Russification in the areas of southern and eastern Ukraine that it occupies.
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