Five Top-Ranking Russian Officials Killed During Meeting

An attack on Russian officials in the occupied Kherson region killed five high-ranking Moscow-backed officers on Tuesday, according to the National Resistance Center of Ukraine.

The attack was reportedly carried out with the help of Ukrainian partisans living in Yuvileyne, a village in southeastern Ukraine that is under Russian control. The National Resistance Center posted on its Telegram channel that the strike was carried out on a building where Russian personnel were holding a meeting.

"Thanks to the information provided by the underground and concerned local residents, an attack was made on the building where the meeting of the occupiers was held in the temporarily occupied village of Yuvileyne, Kherson region," read the post by the center, which was established by Ukraine's Special Operation Forces in March 2022 to unite Ukrainians living in occupied Russia. "As a result of successful actions, five high-ranking officials are known to have died."

Russian-language Telegram channel Astra, which is utilized by Russian journalists who have been censored by the Kremlin, also reported an attack on a two-story building in Yuvileyne on Tuesday, adding that four Russian police officers were killed. Sources who spoke with the channel said that the building is home to the Nova Kakhovka Department of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, and that the structure was "destroyed" by shelling.

According to Astra, 17 employees who worked in the building were also injured in the attack, and at least five official vehicles were damaged. Those who were killed include Russian Police Major Arthur Dzhunusov, whom Astra identified as deputy chief of the area's police department.

Police Major Vladimir Novikov, identified as chief of logistics for the department, was also killed in the strike, as was Senior Police Lieutenant Mergen Nimgirov and Police Captain Sergei Novikov, reported Astra. The identity of the fifth victim was unknown at the time of publication.

Newsweek was unable to independently verify reports regarding the attack. An email was sent to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment Wednesday evening.

Ukrainian partisans have carried out a number of attacks on Russian personnel since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. In October, supporters of Kyiv sabotaged the delivery of ammunition and fuel for Moscow's military by destroying a locomotive in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol. Ukrainian partisans also blew up a car carrying Chechen soldiers fighting on behalf of Russia in the Melitopol district earlier this week.

Moscow occupies a large swath of southern and eastern Ukraine, which Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last fall. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that a ceasefire cannot be reached in the war until all occupied land is returned to Kyiv's control.