Spot Report by the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine: Senior “LPR” member reportedly killed in car bomb explosion in Luhansk city

At 07:55 on 4 February, the SMM heard a loud explosion south of the Luhansk city centre. At 11:30, the SMM went to Chervonopraporna Street where it observed that the incident site had been cordoned off and about 20 “LPR” members, both armed and unarmed, and a fire brigade, were on the spot. A burnt out vehicle, white SUV, whose roof and left front door had been blown off, was about to be removed by a civilian tow truck. The SMM did not see any bodies or sign of blood in or around the vehicle. A Russian officer of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC) had told the SMM that Oleg Anashenko, a senior “LPR” member, had died in a car explosion in the morning. The SMM estimated the explosive to be consistent with 4-5kg of TNT equivalent, and assessed it as having exploded while on the move.