Russian ruling party official in occupied Ukrainian town dead after car blast

Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of the United Russia Party branch in Nova Kakhovka (Kherson region) died after a car explosion, state news agency TASS reported on Saturday.

Igor Kastyukevich, the Moscow-installed senator for the Kherson region, earlier wrote that the explosion occurred at 9:30 AM local time and that Malov had been taken to the hospital with severe injuries.

“We regard [the explosion] as a terrorist act directed against civilians and [other] people who are building a peaceful life in the Kherson region,” Kastyukevich said.

On 29 August, an explosion occurred in the residential building where the Nova Kakhovka branch of the United Russia Party is located. The office was empty at the time of the explosion, and no injuries were reported.