Ukraine War: car bomb kills official in Russian-held Ukrainian town

A party official in the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine’s Kherson province was killed by a car bomb on Saturday, the provincial governor said.

Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of the town branch of Russia’s governing United Russia party, died in hospital, Vladimir Saldo said in a post on his Telegram channel.

He said it had been a “terrorist attack”, meaning one orchestrated by Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Officials seen as supporting Russian rule in the parts of Ukraine that Moscow claims to have annexed since its full-scale invasion in February last year have often been targeted in assassination attempts, many of them fatal.

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In July, Russia said it had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to kill Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of unilaterally annexed Crimea, arresting an agent before he could blow up Aksyonov’s car

Meanwhile, Russian forces carried out an overnight missile strike on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, damaging port infrastructure, Ukrainian authorities said early on Saturday.

Governor Oleh Kiper said four people were wounded in the strike, which hit a boarding house and a portside grain facility. He did not specify where the attack took place.

Ukraine's military said the strike involved supersonic Onyx missiles fired from Russian-occupied Crimea.

Russian forces have carried out regular missile and drone strikes on port infrastructure in recent weeks, making it difficult for large grain producer Ukraine to export its products.

Moscow quit a deal in mid-July that had enabled Black Sea grain shipments and helped combat a global food crisis.

On Friday a woman and her grandson were killed and at least 30 people injured in a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, a day after 52 people were killed in a rocket attack on a wake taking place in a village in the same region.

The attack drew condemnation from the United States, European capitals and international organisations.

“Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes. Russia’s leadership, all commanders, perpetrators and accomplices of these atrocities will be held to account. There will be no impunity for war crimes,” said European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. – Additional reporting Reuters

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