The Ukrainian resistance orchestrated an explosion near a polling station in occupied Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast, on March 15 as Russia illegally opened polls for a presidential election in occupied territories of Ukraine, the National Resistance Center said on March 16.
Russia began three days of voting on March 15 in a pseudo-democratic presidential election that is expected to grant Vladimir Putin, who has been in power since 1999, six more years in office.
Moscow is also organizing voting in occupied Crimea and parts of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in violation of international law.
The explosion occurred at 3 p.m. local time on Skadovsk's central square near the polling station while Russian forces were patrolling nearby. Five soldiers were injured and hospitalized as a result, the center said.
Being unable to ensure the safety of its personnel, occupation authorities canceled voting in public spaces, allowing it only at places of residence, according to the center's statement.
Skadovsk, a city with a pre-war population of 17,000, lies at the Black Sea shores of Kherson Oblast. It has been occupied by Russia since March 2022.
Moscow held sham "regional elections" in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine in September last year in an attempt to consolidate its control over these regions.
Russia declared annexation of partially occupied Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk oblasts in September 2022, a step denounced by Ukraine and the international community as illegal and void.
The Crimean peninsula was illegally annexed in March 2014 following a sham referendum staged by Russia in the absence of any international observers and with armed Russian soldiers present at polling locations.
Katie Marie Davies
(Updated: )
