MOSCOW: Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Russian figure who was reported to have been lined up by Moscow to lead a puppet government in Kyiv following Russia’s invasion, is in intensive care after being shot, a Russian official said on Friday.
Vladimir Rogov, the Russian official, refrained from disclosing the precise location of the shooting incident but said that Tsaryov is in critical condition. Rogov, a high-ranking representative installed by Russia in southern Ukraine, made the announcement via Telegram, urging Orthodox Christian believers to offer their prayers for Tsaryov’s recovery.
Sources previously revealed to Reuters in the past year that Russia had considered Tsaryov as a potential leader for a proxy administration in Kyiv, a plan devised in the wake of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian Politician Considered Himself of Limited Importance
However, Tsaryov himself had dismissed this notion, as reported by the Financial Times and corroborated by US intelligence. He found the idea rather amusing, stating that he was primarily focused on managing a wellness business in Crimea and considered himself to be of limited importance.
Before these events, Tsaryov had served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament and subsequently as the speaker of the parliament of “Novorossiya,” an entity established following the 2014 secession of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, who began clashing with Ukrainian forces.
