At least three people were killed in Friday’s strike on the civilian administration building in the city of Kherson, officials said. They added that the Ukrainian attack also left 13 people injured, most of whom were ordinary passers-by.
The Kherson Health Ministry reported that three of the wounded civilians are currently in critical condition. One of the people killed in the attack was the driver for a local official, authorities claim.
The deputy head of the Kherson administration, Kirill Stremousov, suggested on his Telegram channel that the target of the Ukrainian strike was the acting head of the Kherson military-civilian administration, Sergey Eliseev, as well as local municipal authorities of the region who were holding a meeting in the building at the time of the attack.
Local officials claim there were only civil servants and no military personnel in the building at the time of the shelling, which was allegedly carried out with five US-made HIMARS rockets.
The deputy head of the administration, Ekaterina Gubareva, has called the incident “a vile terrorist attack in broad daylight,” and urged residents to stay at home citing threats of further attacks.
The city of Kherson has been under Russian control since early March, shortly after the country launched its military operation in Ukraine. Late last month, Kiev began a counteroffensive in the region, which, according to Moscow, failed completely and left the Ukrainian military with heavy casualties.