JAKARTA - A former member of the Ukrainian Parliament in collaboration with Russia, Olexy Kovalev, was shot dead at his home located in Kherson, Russian media said.

Kovalev, 33, died after receiving a gunshot wound to the head on Sunday, media outlets such as Baza said. His body was reportedly found by his mother after Sunday's attack.

Meanwhile, his girlfriend, who suffered a stab wound in the attack, died in hospital on Monday.

"This morning, Olexy Kovalev's girlfriend died in an intensive care unit after being injured with a mandate," explained Sergei Khlan, Kherson's military chief adviser, quoted by The National News on August 30.

Kovalev is President Velensky's party mate and holds the post there. He also serves as deputy head of agriculture in Kherson.

Last June, Kovalev was publicly reported to support Russia's occupation of the Kherson region.

Olexander Scherba, a former Ukrainian ambassador to Austria, posted a photo of Kovalev on Twitter and asked "is it worth it?".

"But another traitor was eliminated in the occupied Kherson," he wrote.

It is known, that Russian forces seized Kherson in early March. It was the first major city to fall after an invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

By mid-March, the strike forces had taken control of the entire Kherson region, which is important for Ukraine's agriculture and borders the Crimean peninsula, which Russia's 2014 exports.

Recently, Ukrainian forces have started a counter-attack to retake the strategic territory, Khlan said Monday.

"Today there is a strong artillery attack on enemy positions across the occupied Kherson region," he told Ukrainian TV channel Pryamyi.

"This is an announcement from what we have been waiting for since spring, this is the beginning of the occupation of the Kherson region."

Khlan said Ukrainian forces now have a 'profit' on the south front.

Several attacks in recent weeks have hit bridges in the region, in a bid to hinder logistics for the Russian military.

Ukrainian media previously quoted a spokesman for the command of the southern army Natalia Gumeniuk as saying Kyiv forces were attacking the frontline from "various directions". At the end of July, Khlan said the territory would be recaptured by Kyiv forces in September.

None of these claims can be immediately verified by an independent source.


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