The local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said the deputy head of a state-run administrative agency was killed when “an unidentified device detonated in a car” this afternoon.

Several Moscow-installed officials in eastern Ukraine have been killed in apparent attacks orchestrated by Kyiv or pro-Kyiv forces since Russia launched its military offensive in February 2022.

The Investigative Committee posted a photo of a light-coloured SUV with its windows and doors blown out and wreckage strewn across the street in Starobilsk, a town in Lugansk.

“The circumstances of the incident and the people involved in the commission of the crime are being established,” it said, adding that an investigation into a “terrorist act” had been opened.

Municipal head Vladimir Chernev named the victim as Valery Chaika, an official in Lugansk.

“Our comrade is dead,” he wrote in a post on Telegram, calling on residents to be attentive and report any suspicious activity to the authorities.

Lugansk is one of the four eastern Ukrainian regions that Moscow claimed to annex in 2022.