Occupation ‘government’ of Ukraine’s Kherson region reports HIMARS strike on hotel, ex-people’s deputy Schuravko killed

Following the strike, two people were killed, one of them — ex-deputy of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) for the Party of Regions Oleksiy Schuravko. His death was also confirmed by Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti, which cited emergency services.

Representatives of the media were also present in the hotel, according to the regional “administration”. RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev told RIA Novosti that an RT film crew was staying there, no one was hurt.

Telegram channel Voenkor Kotenok Z reports that Gadziev and a cameraman were in the building at the moment of the strike: “Nothing remains of their room. The cameraman got pinned under a concrete slab, but he is alive.” A video was posted on the channel, in which people are seen getting out of the rubble, one of the men is pinned under a concrete slab.

After 2014, the 48-year-old ex-people’s deputy Oleksiy Schuravko was an opposition member. In 2015, he left Ukraine to live in Russia. On his Telegram channel, the politician expressed his support for the war against Ukraine and Vladimir Putin and called upon Russia to impose an economic blockade of Ukraine.

On 23 September, “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation began in the Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics”, the Russia-occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, and the occupied parts of the Zaporizhzhia region. The “voting” will end on 27 September.