LONDON (Reuters) – Russian-backed separatists in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said Ukrainian forces had bombarded government buildings on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding others.
Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy head of the Kherson region, told Russian state TV that one wing of the administration’s building in Kherson had been practically destroyed in the strike, which he said involved U.S.-made HIMARS rockets.
Separately, the prosecutor general of the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine and his deputy were killed by a bomb blast at their offices, Russian news agencies reported, citing Russian-backed officials and emergency services.
Reuters could not verify reports from the conflict zones.
Stremousov said it was too early to give an exact number of casualties, but that several people had been killed and wounded.
Another Russian-installed official said the strike had coincided with a meeting of local heads of Russian-installed city and district administrations in the building.
Russian forces seized the city of Kherson, along with the surrounding Ukrainian province of the same name, shortly after beginning their invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The region adjoins the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and used as one of the launchpads for February’s invasion.Ukrainian forces have regained some territory in the Kherson region as part of a counteroffensive over recent weeks.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
