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A Russian-installed official in Kherson, Ukraine, has "disappeared," just days after Moscow withdrew its troops from the key city, her husband said on Wednesday.
Ekaterina Gubareva, the deputy head of the Russian-installed Kherson regional administration, has been missing since Tuesday afternoon, her husband Pavel Gubarev, said on his Telegram channel.
Gubarev said he hasn't been able to contact his wife since 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday.
"The last place where she was seen was the building of the government of the Kherson region in Genichesk," he wrote.
According to Latvia-based Russian independent news outlet Meduza, Russian-appointed officials moved to Genichesk after the retreat of troops from Kherson city.
Gubarev added that Volodymyr Saldo, who was appointed by the Kremlin to lead the Kherson region after it was seized during Russian President Vladimir Putin's war, also does not know where his wife is.
Gubareva was appointed as deputy head of the Kherson region in June. Her Telegram channel has not been updated since Monday.
News of her disappearance comes after Kirill Stremousov, a Kremlin-installed leader of occupied Kherson in Ukraine, died in an apparent car accident on November 9, according to local officials.
Russian military correspondents in Kherson said Stremousov died in a car accident at Genichesk in the Kherson region. Russian military journalist Semyon Pegov said that Stremousov's death was confirmed by his personal driver.
According to Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti, the driver of the car he was in lost control while trying to avoid a collision with a truck at a junction. Stremousov was buried in Simferopol on November 11.
Two days after Stremousov's death, a Kremlin-installed leader in the occupied city of Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region reportedly survived an assassination attempt.
RIA Novosti reported that Melitopol's de facto Deputy Sports Minister Andrei Boyko had been hospitalized following a blast on November 11.
"A directed explosion was carried out with the aim of killing him," Vladimir Rogov, an official in the Russian-backed administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, told the news agency.
An investigation is reportedly underway.
Since Putin's war against Ukraine began, multiple Kremlin-appointed officials in territories occupied by Russian forces have been killed.
In September, multiple Russian-installed officials were killed in a single day across Ukraine.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of carrying out targeted strikes against Russian-appointed officials who have been working with the Kremlin amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Newsweek has reached out to Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more