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Car bomb kills Russian-appointed official in eastern Ukraine

April 1, 2024

Moscow-installed authorities in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region said an official was killed after "an unidentified device detonated in a car." Russia illegally annexed the region in late 2022.

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Elderly woman walks past United Russia campaign billboard in Luhansk, Ukraine
Russian-installed authorities say that an official has been killed by a car bomb in the Luhansk region in occupied eastern UkraineImage: Alexander Reka/TASS/dpa/picture alliance

A car bomb has killed a Moscow-installed official in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, local authorities said on Monday.

The local branch of Russia's Investigative Committee said the deputy head of a state-run education agency was killed when "an unidentified device detonated in a car."

Municipal head Vladimir Chernev named the victim as Valery Chaika.

"Our comrade is dead," Chernev said in a Telegram post.

Russia claimed to have annexed the Luhansk region in September 2022, alongside neighboring Donetsk and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine.

What else did Russian authorities say about the attack?

The Investigative Committee posted a photo of a light-colored SUV with its windows and doors blown out and said the apparent attack occurred in the town of Starobilsk.

"The circumstances of the incident and the people involved in the commission of the crime are being established," it said.

The committee said that it had opened investigations into a "terrorist act."

sdi/sms (AFP, Interfax)