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The headquarters of a pro-Kremlin group was blown up in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine on Wednesday evening, ahead of a planned "sham referendum" in the region, officials said.
Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, said on Telegram that explosions destroyed the headquarters of We Are Together With Russia, an organization that represents Russia's ruling political party, United Russia.
The mayor said Russian forces turned the New Post Office on Lomonosov Street into the group's headquarters. Melitopol has been controlled by Russian forces since February 25, the day after Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine began.
"One more step away from the pseudo-referendum. Today's explosions in Melitopol are a minus of another headquarters of 'United Russia,'" wrote Fedorov.
The mayor was referring to the planned referendums on joining neighboring Russia that Kremlin-installed officials said would take place in September or October in Kherson, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and in the Zaporizhzhia region, coinciding with local Russian elections.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called the elections "sham" or "fake" referendums, drawing parallels to a referendum that was held in Crimea before it was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine's military has not commented on the incident.
Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together With Russia group, blamed the attack on Ukraine, writing on his Telegram channel: "Ukraine again perpetrated a terrorist attack, blowing up the [group's] headquarters at Lomonosov Street, 234 in Melitopol. Data on damage and casualties is being verified."
The group was created by Russian forces occupying Melitopol shortly after the city, and other territories across Ukraine were seized.
The organization had been preparing for the so-called sham referendums in the occupied regions, according to the independent Russian-language outlet Meduza.
Kirill Stremousov, a Kremlin-installed leader of occupied Kherson, announced on Monday that the region's planned referendum on joining Russia has been "paused" because of a security situation.
Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed military-civilian regional administration, was cited by the Russian state-owned news agency TASS as telling state television channel Rossiya-1 that local officials are focusing on protecting Kherson residents, amid a counteroffensive by Kyiv to retake the region that was seized by Russian forces in March.
"We prepared for the vote, we wanted to have a referendum in the near future, but because of all the events that have happened now, I think that for now, we will pause," Stremousov said, adding that the main task at present is to "feed" and "protect" the people of Kherson.
Newsweek 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