Mikhail Filiponenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was killed on Wednesday in a car bomb attack in the occupied city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, as reported by the German news platform merkur.de.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service claims to have carried out the attack on the pro-Russian local politician and former leader of the separatists. The Luhansk Information Center (LIC) officially confirmed Filiponenko’s death by a “non-identified explosive device” under his car on Wednesday morning. Already in October, a senior member of the pro-Russian party died in a bombing attack.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service announced that a “special operation to eliminate” Mikhail Filiponenko was conducted in the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, in cooperation with representatives of the resistance movement. Filiponenko was a member of the People’s Council of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and a former leader of the LPR People’s Militia.
According to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the 48-year-old, in his role as leader of the pro-Russian separatists, personally and brutally tortured civilians and prisoners of war. The intelligence service announced its intention to continue to act against “war criminals and collaborators” working with Russia. They must receive their “just punishment.”
Image: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Vladimir Putin (2023-09-30).jpg, via Wikimedia Commons (Image size changed)
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