Kyiv:
A pro-Kremlin official in the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine was in serious condition on Tuesday after being injured in a car blast, Moscow-installed authorities said.
City commander Artem Bardin was taken to hospital “in serious condition” after the explosion of a bomb in his car, local officials in the city said.
His death had previously been announced by the Berdyansk city government and a pro-Kremlin regional official later retracted it to say Bardin was alive but seriously injured.
“He is seriously injured, but fortunately alive. The doctors are fighting to save him,” said the head of the Moscow-installed Zaporizhzhya region, Yevgeny Balitsky.
Local pro-Russian officials have accused “Ukrainian terrorists” of being behind the attack, which they say was aimed at intimidating Ukrainian officials who had sided with the Russians.
In recent months, several officials installed by Russian troops in Moscow-controlled areas in Ukraine have been killed or injured in attacks.
Kiev has not formally claimed responsibility for them.
In late August, Alexei Kovalev, a former lawmaker who changed allegiances and became a senior official in the Russian-installed government, was shot dead.
Ukraine has claimed its first victories in a counter-offensive against the Russian army in the south, saying it has recaptured several areas and destroyed multiple targets.
Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson on Monday pointed to delays in plans for a referendum in southern Ukraine amid the counter-offensive.
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