A car bomb killed at least one person Friday night in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian and Russian officials, underscoring the scope of the war far beyond the front lines as Ukrainian partisans aim to weaken their occupiers.
The explosion happened in Mykhailivka, a town in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled Ukrainian mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, about 30 miles south, said the targeted vehicle was carrying “four Kremlin supporters”.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official in the Zaporizhzhia region, confirmed the attack in a Telegram post, saying that the bomb killed a “local businessman” named Sergei Didovoduk and wounded two others.
The attack occurred as Ukrainian forces were preparing for a much-anticipated counterattack which analysts believe will take place in southern Ukraine. According to Western analysts and officials, Kiev’s military will likely aim to cut off land routes linking Russia with Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
“We are ready,” said President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal was published on Saturday.
Much is going on in the coming counter-offensive, especially after the recent Russian attack. capture the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, partisan attacks like the one on Friday night have become a major factor in the occupied areas as Ukrainian insurgents target the Russian military and its so-called collaborators. Russia.
Mr. Rogov described Mr. Didovoduk as a member of the local civil society who “regularly provides free supplies to neighbors in need in his cafe”. According to Rogov and unverified footage of the aftermath of the attack posted on social media, Didovoduk died in a Soviet-made Niva car, a modest sport utility vehicle.
Ukrainian officials say Didovoduk’s Hetman cafe is frequented by Russian soldiers and occupation officials.
The cafe named after the usual title of the head of state Cossack existed in Ukraine in the 17th and 18th centuries and played an important role in the foundation of modern Ukraine.
Didovoduk registered to run for Russia’s ruling party in upcoming local elections, Rogov said. The Kremlin has pushed ahead with plans to hold local elections in September in four regions of Ukraine which Russia illegally annexed last yearan attempt to legitimize moves that defy the ever-changing borders of territory under Russian control.
Ukraine has denounced the elections in the annexed regions – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk – as a sham.
Didovoduk’s murder also raises questions about the legitimacy of partisan attacks under internationally recognized laws of war, including whether parties are considered militants.
Ukrainian parties say they are civilians and that the legal basis for their activities is regulated by Ukrainian law, not war laws that include bans on soldiers targeting a civilian official. But under international law, civilians become warriors when they start to engage in hostilities.
Here’s what else is happening in Ukraine:
Bomb shelter: A nationwide inspection of bomb shelters across Ukraine has found that 893 of the more than 4,800 bunkers inspected so far are “unfit for use”, the interior minister said. posted saturday. Mr. Zelensky ordered an inspection of the allegations and questions raised by the death of three people people were locked outside shelters in their neighborhood in Kiev on Thursday.
