In the Russian-held regions of Luhansk, Kherson and Berdyansk, five officials died within a few hours, including Prosecutor General Sergei Gorenko. He died after an explosion in his office. The separatists blame Kyiv for this.
According to local reports, high-ranking members of the Moscow-controlled separatists were killed in an attack in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk. There were also mysterious deaths of officials in Berdyansk and Kherson.
“Today, as a result of an act of terrorism, the Prosecutor General Sergey Gorenko and his deputy Yekaterina Steglenko died,” Luhansk separatist leader Leonid Pasechnik wrote on Telegram on Friday. Local media had previously reported an explosion at the prosecutor’s office. Gorenko “died, according to preliminary information, from injuries sustained in an explosion in his office,” said an ambulance worker.
The act shows “that the Kiev regime has exceeded all limits of what is acceptable,” said Passechnik. A search has been launched for “those associated with this crime”. He did not provide any further information on the nature of the explosion.
The external adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoliak, however, rejected any involvement. The “liquidation” should be seen as a dispute within local crime, Podoljak wrote on Twitter.
There was apparently also an attack on Friday in the southern Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk, which is occupied by Russia. According to Russian information, the deputy head of the occupation administration, Oleg Boiko, and his wife Lyudmila were murdered there. According to local reports, Boiko’s wife headed the so-called city election commission for holding a “referendum” on the city’s incorporation into the Russian Federation. Nothing is known about the circumstances of the deaths.
The administration building of the city of Kherson is also said to have been hit by rockets on Friday. According to the deputy head of the regional administration, the driver of the head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs died. The director was injured herself. The head of administration employed by Russia has reportedly claimed that five Himar rockets hit his office.
