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Sergey Kirienko, deputy chief of staff to Russian President Vladimir Putin, narrowly avoided being caught up in shelling after Ukraine's armed forces fired at the city of Nova Kakhovka in the southern Kherson region on Monday, according to local media reports.
Kirienko, a top Russian official and Putin's right-hand man, was reportedly in the occupied Kherson region either just before, or when the Ukrainian army shelled a hydroelectric power station in the city.
Citing sources in the Kherson region, Russian journalist Semyon Pegov wrote on his Telegram channel that Kirienko visited the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station, and then met with local Russian officials.
When the meeting ended, and officials began to leave, Ukraine's armed forces attacked the hydroelectric power station, according to the journalist.
"Participants of the meetings took refuge in the basement. None of the participants in the events was injured," Pegov wrote.
Russian state-run media outlet RIA Novosti offered conflicting information, saying that Kirienko left the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station shortly before the strike.
The publication cited a source among those accompanying Kirienko as saying that the facility was struck after he had left.
"We are safe, everything is fine. The missiles hit right on the site where our [Kirienko's delegation] cars were parked. Two people from the protection of the hydroelectric power station died," the source said.
The head of the city administration, Vladimir Leontiev, said the extent of the damage at the hydroelectric power station isn't yet clear, internet news outlet URA reported.
RIA Novosti cited a source as saying that a gas pipeline was damaged in the vicinity of the hydroelectric power station, but that power wasn't shut off after the strike.
The Ukrainian army shelled Novaya Kakhovka twice last week, and Russian officials said the first strike was delivered using American-supplied M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems—known as HIMARS, RIA Novosti reported.
Natalia Humeniuk, the head of the United Coordinating Press Center of Security and Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine, told the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform on Monday that Ukraine has recently destroyed two of Russia's military ammo depots in Kherson, including one in Nova Kakhovka.
Humeniuk said that these strikes resulted in the "enemy" lacking ammunition to attack Ukraine's positions, adding that they saw "very good results." Such strikes "not only interrupt the logistic chains of the area, but it also affects the morale of the occupants," Humeniuk said.
Newsweek has reached out to Russia's foreign ministry 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