A car was blown up in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on the morning of April 3, wounding local collaborator Maksym Zubariev, reported exiled Mayor Ivan Fedorov.

According to the mayor, Zubariev "was one of the first to cooperate with the enemy," heading the occupying administration of Yakymivka, a town near Melitopol.

Moscow-installed proxies in Melitopol also reported Zubariev's injury in the explosion, adding his condition was "serious."

Melitopol, the city of some 150,000 people in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was occupied by Russia in late February, a few days after the all-out invasion began. It is located between Kherson and Mariupol, several kilometers north of the Black Sea coast.

According to Russian state-controlled media, Ukrainian partisans targeted Serhii Skovyrk, a Melitopol collaborator responsible for policing, on March 23.

Several collaborators in Russian-occupied areas have met similar fates since the start of the invasion.

Most notable was Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the illegal occupation administration in Kherson Oblast, who died in a car accident along with another collaborator on Nov. 9.

Zelensky imposed sanctions on 650 Russian officials, collaborators, companies

President Volodymyr Zelensky signed two decrees to impose sanctions on more than 650 individuals and legal entities “working for Russian aggression,” as well as those connected to the Russian military industry.

Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk