(Photo : ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)
A picture shows smoke during fighting in Luhansk region, eastern Ukraine, on June 24, 2022. Moscow-backed official Valery Chaika was killed in Luhansk on Monday.
A Russian official in occupied Ukraine was killed Monday afternoon, after "an unidentified device detonated in a car," Russian officials say.
Valery Chaika was the Moscow-backed, deputy head of a state-run administrative agency in Luhansk, one of four eastern Ukraine regions that Russia annexed in Spring 2022.
"The circumstances of the incident and the people involved in the commission of the crime are being established," the local branch of Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.
The committee also shared a photograph of a destroyed SUV, with wreckage strewn across the street. Russian authorities plan to investigate the explosion as an act of terrorism, according to AFP.
Municipal head Vladimir Chernev confirmed Chaika's identity in a Telegram post, where he also urged Lugansk residents to remain cautious and communicate with the Russian authorities.
"Our comrade is dead," Chernev wrote.
At least two other Russian officials have been killed by car bombings in occupied Ukraine. Mikhail Filiponenko died on November 8, in occupied Luhansk. One month prior, Vladimir Malov was killed during an explosion in Kherson Oblast, according to the Kyiv Independent.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on Chaika's death.
