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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/world/europe/oleg-tsaryov-ukraine-russia.html
A Ukrainian former lawmaker whom the Kremlin had handpicked to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv, Ukraine, was shot and wounded in occupied Crimea in an apparent assassination attempt, Ukrainian and Russian officials said on Saturday.
The former lawmaker, Oleg Tsaryov, 53, a pro-Russian business executive, who participated in Moscow’s invasion, was shot as part of a “special operation” carried out this week by Ukraine’s domestic security agency, according to a senior Ukrainian intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
According to Western intelligence agencies, had the Russian invasion succeeded, the Kremlin would have installed Mr. Tsaryov as Ukraine’s leader.
The targeting of prominent Russian and pro-Russian figures has long been part of the broader Ukrainian war effort and has continued apace even as fierce battles rage across a vast front line that has moved little in the past year.
After spending months trying to break through the Russian lines in the south, Ukrainian forces increasingly find themselves on the defensive as Russia renews assaults across eastern Ukraine.
While the Russian forces suffered some of their heaviest losses in months in attempts to encircle the eastern city of Avdiivka, Moscow appears determined to keep up the assaults there and along other lines of attack, Ukrainian and Western officials said.
Fierce fighting was also reported on Saturday around the city of Vuhledar, which is less than 20 miles from a critical Russian logistics hub in southeastern Ukraine.
Sitting at the nexus of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Vuhledar has been the scene of some of the war’s bloodiest battles, including a disastrous Russian armored assault last winter.
A Ukrainian former lawmaker whom the Kremlin had handpicked to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv, Ukraine, was shot and wounded in occupied Crimea in an apparent assassination attempt, Ukrainian and Russian officials said on Saturday.
The former lawmaker, Oleg Tsaryov, 53, a pro-Russian business executive, who participated in Moscow’s invasion, was shot as part of a “special operation” carried out this week by Ukraine’s domestic security agency, according to a senior Ukrainian intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
According to Western intelligence agencies, had the Russian invasion succeeded, the Kremlin would have installed Mr. Tsaryov as Ukraine’s leader.
The targeting of prominent Russian and pro-Russian figures has long been part of the broader Ukrainian war effort and has continued apace even as fierce battles rage across a vast front line that has moved little in the past year.
After spending months trying to break through the Russian lines in the south, Ukrainian forces increasingly find themselves on the defensive as Russia renews assaults across eastern Ukraine.
While the Russian forces suffered some of their heaviest losses in months in attempts to encircle the eastern city of Avdiivka, Moscow appears determined to keep up the assaults there and along other lines of attack, Ukrainian and Western officials said.
Fierce fighting was also reported on Saturday around the city of Vuhledar, which is less than 20 miles from a critical Russian logistics hub in southeastern Ukraine.
Sitting at the nexus of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, Vuhledar has been the scene of some of the war’s bloodiest battles, including a disastrous Russian armored assault last winter.
