Hennadii Lahuta, former head of the Kherson Oblast State Administration, has died at the age of 49, Kherson Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Sept. 17.
Prokudin did not provide details on the cause of Lahuta's death.
"We express our sincere condolences to the family of the deceased and share their grief," he wrote on Telegram.
Local media outlet Most reported, citing its unnamed sources, that Lahuta died at one of Kyiv's hospitals overnight on Sept. 17.
Lahuta was appointed as the governor of Kherson Oblast in October 2021, prior to the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He has held the office for about eight months. President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Lahuta in July last year.
Most of Kherson Oblast was occupied by Russian forces in the early stage of the full-scale invasion.
According to Most, Lahuta left Kherson after the start of the full-scale invasion and "disappeared for almost half a year."
In early February, the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that Lahuta was suspected of forgery of documents and fraud.
He faced up to 12 years behind bars with confiscation of property.
"One of the episodes, which is currently being investigated by the Ukrainian special services, concerns the illegal property acquisition. In particular, the former official appropriated a car that was given to him for temporary free use during the full-scale invasion," the SBU reported back then.
Igor Kossov
