Artyom Bardin, the head of the Russian-controlled military-civilian administration in the southern Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, is still alive, a medical chief with the Berdyansk Healthcare Department, Nikolay Miroshnichenko, has confirmed. Bardin was reported dead on Monday after his car was blown up in what the local authorities called a terrorist attack.

Bardin was hospitalized in serious condition and the local authorities confirmed his death to journalists later on Monday. Miroshnichenko denied these reports by saying that the military governor is still alive as of Tuesday evening. The official also described the governor’s condition as “serious but stable.”

The governor’s car was rocked by an explosion as it was parked near the city administration office. Three other civilian vehicles were damaged in the blast, Russian media outlets reported.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Zaporozhye Region administration, blamed the attack on the “terrorists of the Zelensky regime,” referring to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. No suspects have been officially identified so far.

Military governor killed in blast in southeastern Ukraine

The city of Berdyansk was seized by Russian forces early in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev and has remained under Russian control ever since. The Monday attack was not the first one in the city. In late August, the deputy commander of local traffic police, Aleksandr Kolesnikov, was killed in a similar incident.

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that would never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.