Another death in Luhansk
Ukraine murders pro-Russian politician near Moscow
December 6, 2023, 7:23 p.m
Kiev admits responsibility for the murder of pro-Russian politician Ilya Kywa near Moscow, who originally comes from Ukraine. He was “one of the greatest traitors”. Another pro-Russian politician, Oleg Popov, dies in an attack in occupied Luhansk. It is still unclear who is behind it.
According to Moscow, a pro-Russian politician was killed in a car bomb attack in eastern Ukraine. The exact circumstances of the attack in the center of the city of Luhansk are still being investigated, the Russian Investigative Committee said. The person killed was Oleg Popov, who was a member of the Luhansk regional parliament loyal to Moscow.
Russian troops occupy the city in the region of the same name with around 400,000 residents. It is located far in the east of Ukraine, near the border with Russia. The front where the Ukrainian armed forces are trying to liberate the territory from the Russian occupiers is about 100 kilometers from the city of Luhansk.
Since Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine began in February last year, several high-ranking politicians appointed by Moscow have been the target of attacks. Just a month ago, another member of the Luhansk regional parliament was killed by an explosive device attached to his car – Ukraine claimed responsibility for the action. There was initially no reaction from Kiev to the attack on Popov. But there is another, comparable case: Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the killing of a pro-Russian politician who was also found near Moscow on Wednesday.
Ukraine: Murdered Ilya Kyva
According to information from the AFP news agency from Ukrainian defense circles, the Ukrainian secret service SBU organized the murder of politician Ilya Kyva. Kywa was a member of the Ukrainian parliament until he was stripped of his seat and defected to Russia a few weeks after the start of the Russian invasion. Kywa, 46, was found lifeless with a “wound on the head” in a suburb of Moscow on Wednesday, according to Russian news agencies.
Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andryi Yusov said on Ukrainian television that his service could “confirm that Kywa is finished.” Kywa was “one of the greatest traitors and collaborators” and his killing was “just,” said the spokesman. A similar fate will also befall “other traitors to Ukraine and the henchmen of the Putin regime.”
Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, several pro-Russian politicians have been killed both in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and in Russia itself. At first, Kiev mostly left it open whether it was behind the killings. Recently, however, the Ukrainian government has increasingly claimed responsibility for such acts and threatened “collaborators” and “traitors.”