Russia’s appointed mayor of the small town of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine was seriously injured in an explosive attack on Sunday, local military forces announced.

His bodyguards were also injured in the attack.

“The self-proclaimed head of the ‘people’s administration’ of Enerhodar, Andrei Shevchik, has been injured by an explosion at the entrance to the apartment building where his mother lives,” the Ukrainian military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region posted on its Telegram channel. “It was a targeted partisan attack against a collaborator.”

Media reports said Mr Shevchik was in intensive care.

According to the Ukrainian military administration, the Russian occupation forces are searching for two young men in a red Audi car.

They have also strengthened the checkpoints.

On Monday, the Russian investigative committee said it had opened a criminal case for the Ukrainian nationalists’ crime.

Europe’s most powerful nuclear power plant is located in Enerhodar.

Russian troops occupied the small town in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region in the very first days of the war.

During the fighting, a fire broke out briefly on the nuclear power plant site but was extinguished.

The regional capital Zaporizhzhia itself, is still under Ukrainian control.

(dpa/NAN)