A mayor appointed by Moscow in Energodar, a city in southern Ukraine under Russian control, is out of danger after being injured in an explosion, local authorities announced on Monday May 23, the Kremlin denouncing an "
attack
".
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“
The mayor, unfortunately, suffered burns and injuries, but his life and that of his bodyguards are not in danger
,” said a pro-Russian security official, Alexei Selivanov, quoted by the news agency. Ria Novosti.
He denounced an attack by the “
Ukrainian secret services
” aimed at “
intimidating the civilian population
” of the territories conquered by the Russian army.
Energodar, a city under the Russian flag
On Sunday, Andrei Shevtchik and two of his bodyguards were victims of an explosion in the entrance of a residential building in Energodar.
The Russian Investigative Committee said a "
pipe bomb
" had been planted in an electrical cabinet, promising to establish the full circumstances of the incident.
Andrei Shevtchik was appointed mayor of Energodar after Russian troops seized the city and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, located on its territory in March.
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The Kremlin spokesman, meanwhile, said Monday that it was an "
attack
" committed by
Ukrainian "
nationalists ".
“
This obliges our soldiers to be on the alert and to take preventive measures to prevent such terrorist acts from being repeated
”, affirmed Dmitry Peskov, during a press briefing.
“
The nationalists continue their activities.
The purpose of the operation (in Ukraine) is to fight against these elements
,” he continued.
A city of nearly 50,000 inhabitants, Energodar was built in the 1970s around the nuclear power plant, located on the Dnieper, opposite the city of Zaporijjia, held by the Ukrainians.
