Ukraine: Russia’s deputy leader of Kherson region Kirill Stremousov ‘killed in car crash’

A Russian official installed in the Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region died in a car crash on Wednesday, Russian state news agencies have reported.

Kirill Stremousov was Russia’s deputy head of the contested southern region, and one of the most prominent public faces of the Russian occupation of Ukraine.

He was known for using social media to pump out aggressive statements, the latest of which appeared on Wednesday morning, just hours before his death.

TASS news agency said on Wednesday afternoon that his death had been confirmed by the press service for the head of Kherson region The exact circumstances were unclear.

Russia moved to annex Ukraine’s southern Kherson region and three others last month after staging what it called referendums, dismissed as illegal shams by Kyiv and the West.

Mr Stremousov had posted regular video updates on social media - including while in vehicles moving at speed - about the situation on the frontline.

Lately he had been urging civilians to evacuate the western bank of the Dnipro river in the face of a mounting Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back territory captured by Russian forces in the first days of the war.

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