The war in Russian-occupied Ukraine reached beyond the frontlines on Friday night when a car bomb exploded in southern Ukraine, killing at least one person, according to Ukrainian and Russian officials. The location of the attack was Mykhailivka, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor in exile of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, claimed that the vehicle targeted was carrying “four supporters of the Kremlin.” Vladimir Rogov, a Russian occupation official in the Zaporizhzhia region, confirmed the attack and disclosed that the bomb killed a “local businessman” named Sergei Didovoduk and injured two others.
Mr. Didovoduk was registered to compete for Russia’s governing party in upcoming local elections, according to Rogov. The Kremlin wants to hold these elections in September in four Ukrainian regions that Russia illegally annexed last year. Ukraine has dismissed them as a sham.
The blast took place as Ukrainian forces prepare for a significant counteroffensive, primarily in southern Ukraine. Analysts anticipate that Kyiv’s troops will aim to sever the land routes that connect Russia to Crimea, the territory that Moscow illegally annexed in 2014, according to Western officials.
Meanwhile, partisan attacks such as Friday night’s car bombing have become commonplace in occupied areas, with Ukrainian insurgents targeting the Russian military and collaborators. Nevertheless, such attacks raise serious questions about the legality of partisan attacks under the internationally recognized law of war, including whether partisans are classified as combatants. Ukrainian partisans, however, claim they are civilians, and their activities are regulated under Ukrainian law, not the laws of war that prohibit soldiers from targeting civilian officials.
In other news, a nationwide inspection of bomb shelters across Ukraine found that 893 of the 4,800 checked so far were deemed “unsuitable for use,” according to the interior minister. The inspection was ordered by President Volodymyr Zelensky after accusations and questions arose from the deaths of three people who had been locked outside their neighborhood shelter in Kyiv on Thursday.
