A car bomb has killed a Moscow-appointed official in the occupied Luhansk Oblast city of Starobilsk, occupation authorities said on April 1.
Valeriy Chaika died after a homemade explosive device was planted on his car, the head of the Starobilsk occupational administration, Vladimir Chernev, said in a post on Telegram.
“Our comrade is dead,” he added.
Russia's Investigative Committee posted a picture of a burned-out SUV on the street in Starobilsk and said an investigation had been launched into the “terrorist act.”
"The circumstances of the incident and the people involved in the commission of the crime are being established," it added.
Russian officials, their proxies, and collaborators have been routinely targeted in both occupied parts of Ukraine and in Russia. Kyiv does not typically comment on the attacks.
In November, a car belonging to a Russian policeman was blown up in occupied Mariupol.
Mikhail Filiponenko, a Russian proxy official and former military commander in occupied Luhansk, was killed by a car bomb on Nov. 8.
Earlier in October, Vladimir Malov, a member of Russia's ruling United Russia party, was killed in a car bomb explosion in the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka in Kherson Oblast.
The Washington Post released an article on Oct. 23 alleging that Ukrainian intelligence services were behind a number of high-profile assassinations of targets inside Russia.Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) refused to comment on the article, saying that it would only be possible to discuss details regarding its special operations after Ukraine's victory over Russia.
