“According to preliminary data, LNR Prosecutor General Sergei Gorenko died of his injuries as a result of an explosion in his office,” a spokesman for the emergency services said, according to Russian news agency Interfax. State news agency Tass cited a colonel in Luhansk’s separatist interior ministry as saying Gorenko’s deputy was also killed. Russian agencies cited emergency services and local officials as saying the explosion was caused by a bomb. Russian-backed separatists in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson said separately that Ukrainian forces shelled government buildings on Friday, killing at least one person and wounding others. Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Kherson region who is based in Russia, told Russian state television that one wing of the administration building in Kherson had been practically destroyed in the strike, which he said involved Himars-made rockets USA. Reuters was unable to verify reports from the conflict zones. Stremusov said it was too early to give an exact number of casualties, but that several people were killed and injured. Another official based in Russia said the strike coincided with a meeting of local heads of cities and regional administrations based in Russia at the building. Russian forces captured the city of Kherson, along with the surrounding Ukrainian province of the same name, shortly after launching their invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The region adjoins the Crimean peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and used as one of the launching points for the February invasion. Ukrainian forces have retaken some territory in the Kherson region as part of a counteroffensive in recent weeks.
