Huge Explosion as Pro-Russian Officials Hit By Ukraine HIMARS, Video Shows

Ukraine struck its occupied Kherson region at least five times on Friday using U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), causing a huge explosion at a building where officials of the Russian-installed administration were holding a meeting, authorities said.

A video published by Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti shows a huge plume of smoke rising from the building of the Kherson regional administration. Another video shows extensive damage to Kherson's district court building.

Kherson has been under Russian control since the beginning of March. However, Ukraine is waging a counteroffensive in the region, and has had success in another counterattack in the Kharkiv area in the northeast of the country.

Ekaterina Gubareva, the deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in Kherson, said that at the time of the strike a meeting was underway between the heads of the city and municipal districts.

She called the attack "a vile act of terrorism" and said the head of the labor department was injured, and her driver died.

Another official in the Russian-installed administration was wounded, according to Tass.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed administration of the occupied region, said that Ukraine had launched a HIMARS attack on the building. He said it isn't yet clear how many casualties there are.

He said earlier that there was a large number of foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine near the region.

"There are a lot of foreign mercenaries in the ranks of the Ukrainian troops concentrated in the Kherson direction," he said. "There is a lot of evidence of the presence of mercenaries who speak English and other foreign languages."

Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on reports of the strike.

Newsweek has contacted Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment.

Ukraine kickstarted a counteroffensive in Kherson at the end of August, followed by an unexpected effort to retake the Kharkiv region in early September.

Ukrainian officials say its troops have so far have seized approximately 310 square miles of territory around Kherson since counteroffensive operations began.

Planned referendums to join Russia were paused in the Kherson region earlier this month, with Stremousov saying that officials need to ensure the protection of its residents.

Previously, Kremlin-installed officials had indicated that referendums on joining neighboring Russia would take place in September or October in Kherson,

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that amid Ukraine's successful counteroffensive, a top Russian unit has retreated from the Kharkiv region.

The ministry said Russia's capability to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has likely been severely weakened as a result of the casualties it has sustained in Kyiv's push to retake the Kharkiv region.