Russia accuses Ukraine of targeting pro-Moscow officials

Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out targeted strikes in the cities of Kherson and Luhansk against local officials who have been collaborating with Moscow.

At least five Himars missiles crashed into the central administration building in Kherson, which Russian troops have occupied since March after arriving from Crimea. Video from the scene showed smoke pouring out of the complex and debris.

On the other side of the country, in the eastern city of Luhansk, a pro-Russia prosecutor and his deputy died when their office was blown up. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

There were also unconfirmed reports from the port city of Berdiansk that Oleg Boyko, deputy head of the administration of the port town of Berdiansk, and his wife, Lyudmilla, who headed a commission preparing a referendum on the Zaporizhzhia province joining Russia, were killed in their garage overnight on Friday.

These seemingly coordinated attacks are likely to unnerve local collaborators across Ukraine. The Kremlin had been planning to stage referendums in Kherson and the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow has in effect part-controlled for eight years.

They have advanced close to the border of the Luhansk region, which Russia fully occupied in June. Devastated Russian units have been desperately building new defences in anticipation of a further Ukrainian push.

It appears to have been the work of precise intelligence combined with devastating US-supplied Himars long-range rockets, which are accurate to within four metres.

The Ukrainian head of the Kherson regional administration, Volodymyr Saldo, was poisoned last month. It was unclear who was responsible. He was transferred to a clinic in Moscow where he appears to have died last week.