Manolis Pilavov, the former mayor of Russian-occupied Luhansk, was killed in an explosion in the city center, the Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing emergency services.
The blast reportedly occurred around noon on July 3 on Taras Shevchenko Street. Officials in the self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” said one person was killed and three others injured. Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a criminal case in connection with the explosion.
Unconfirmed reports suggested that an explosive device had been planted behind the door of a building.
Ukrainian media outlets, citing sources in the country’s security services, later reported that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was responsible. The sources described Pilavov as one of the ideologues of the “Luhansk People’s Republic” and an associate of its former leader, Igor Plotnitsky.
Pilavov led the Luhansk city administration from December 2014 to November 2023. In 2015, the SBU declared him wanted under three articles of the Criminal Code: the violent overthrow of the constitutional order, violation of the country’s territorial integrity, and the creation of a terrorist organization.