INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
local branch of Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said the deputy head of a state-run administrative agency was
killed when "an unidentified device detonated in a car" on Monday afternoon.The Investigative Committee released a photo of a light-colored
SUV with its windows and doors blown out and wreckage strewn across the street in Starobilsk, a town in the Luhansk region."The
circumstances of the incident and the people involved in the perpetration of the crime are being established," it said, adding that an
investigation into a "terrorist act" had been opened.Municipal head Vladimir Chernev said the official killed in the attack was Valery
Chaika."Our comrade is dead," he wrote in a post on Telegram, calling on residents to be on the alert and to report any suspicious activity
to the authorities.Luhansk is among the four Ukrainian regions that Russia claims to have annexed in late 2022.Several Moscow-installed
officials in eastern Ukraine have been killed in attacks orchestrated by Kyiv or pro-Ukrainian groups since Russia launched its full-scale
invasion over two years ago.
