Three other city residents were wounded, local authorities have said

Former Lugansk Mayor Manolis Pilavov has been killed in a blast which wounded three other residents of the Russian city, local media have cited the government of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) as saying.

One of the victims remains in critical condition, LPR authorities said on Thursday.

The blast may have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by a woman who was spotted approaching the entrance of the building shortly before the incident, according to Mash Telegram channel. The outlet noted that the explosion occurred when the door was opened, causing the entryway to collapse and throwing people back.

The local branch of the Russian Investigative Committee announced shortly afterwards that a criminal case has been launched. Investigators have been working on site to establish the circumstances of the incident, it added.

Federal investigators also published a video showing the building in the aftermath of the blast, with its entrance severely damaged and windows blown out.

According to the Lugansk Information Center, a relative of Manolis Pilavov, who served as mayor of the city between 2014 and 2023, has confirmed that the 61-year-old died in the explosion. "Sadly, this is true," he was quoted as saying.

Pilavov, who was Lugansk's deputy mayor in the 2000s, became mayor of the city several months after the leaders of a violent Western-backed coup in Kiev ousted Ukraine's leadership and scrapped local language rights, prompting residents of the region to establish the LPR and seek independence.

Following a protracted military struggle with the Ukrainian government which saw several failed attempts at reconciliation, the LPR officially joined the Russian Federation as a result of a referendum in the fall of 2022.

Kiev considered Pilavov a traitor, and he was listed in 2014 by Mirotvorets, a controversial semi-official public database that catalogs individuals deemed enemies of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, LPR head Leonid Pasechnik announced that the Russian military has liberated 100% of the republic's territory from Ukrainian forces.

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(RT.com)