Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Kovalyov, who joined the Russia-imposed Kherson regional government after Russian armed forces took over parts of Ukraine's southeast, has been found dead.
An adviser to the Kyiv-controlled regional administration, Serhiy Khlan, said on August 29 that Kovalyov was found dead a day earlier in his house in the town of Hola Prystan.
Ukrainian media reports said Kovalyov was found with a gunshot wound to his head and a Mossberg pump firearm that was officially registered to the former member of Ukraine's ruling Servant of the People party. The reports also said Kovalyov's girlfriend sustained a stabbing wound and was hospitalized.
Russia-imposed authorities did not comment on the reports, but pro-Russian Telegram channels confirmed them.
Several officials appointed by Moscow to areas of Ukraine have died in recent weeks after being attacked.
Last week, Russia-imposed authorities in parts of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region said the Moscow-appointed mayor of the Russia-occupied town of Mykhaylivka, Ivan Sushko, was killed by a car bomb.
On August 6, Vitaliy Hura, a Russia-appointed deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, was shot dead by an unidentified assailant while leaving his home while a car bomb in Kherson killed the Russia-appointed head of the directorate for youth policies at the Kherson region's administration, Dmytro Savluchenko, in late June.