‘Traitor’ Ukrainian MP ‘murdered’ along with wife whose throat was slashed by ‘Hit Commando’ in ‘sixth murder by saboteurs’

A Ukrainian MP branded a “traitor” for switching sides to support the Russian invaders has been assassinated.

Oleksiy Kovalyov, 33, was shot at with a pump-action shotgun along with his wife, who was stabbed, becoming the sixth Ukrainian accused of being murdered by a hit squad.

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The couple were attacked at their home in the Russian-held Kherson region after surviving a previous attempt to kill him with a car bomb.

The dead politician’s body was reportedly found by his horrified mother, who then called emergency services.

In recent weeks there has been a surge in targeted assassinations of officials who have been shot, blown up and poisoned for collaborating with the hated invaders in the war.

Just this week, a senior pro-Putin official was killed in a car bomb in occupied Ukraine while picking up his daughter from kindergarten.

Ukrainian official Serhiy Khlan announced: “Former MP and traitor Oleksiy Kovalyov was killed.”

A popular Telegram channel of Ukrainian journalist Andrei Tsaplienko confirmed: “Traitor, collaborator and former people’s deputy Oleksiy Kovalyov was shot in his own home.

“The occupiers have started intensive searches and document checks. Be careful, Ukrainians.”

Before the war, Kovalyov was a deputy for President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s ruling Servant of the People party in Kyiv, but switched sides in April.

After the earlier car bombing, for which he blamed the Ukrainian secret service SBU, he defiantly said in a video: “To my enemies and to those who planned this sabotage – you will not stop me.”

The stark warning comes as body bags of Putin allies continue to pile up.

Shadowy guerrilla fighters, trained before the invasion with the help of US and British special forces, have ruthlessly eliminated collaborators to sow fear in their ranks.

After performing attacks, they disappear and then blend in seamlessly with the local population to avoid any Russian attempts to capture them and slip back into friendly territory.

They rely on secret stashes of assassin’s tools – explosives and silenced pistols, as well as Kalashnikov rifles and grenade launchers.

Recent attacks there include that of Putin’s henchman Vitaly Gura, an official in the Kherson region, who was shot dead in his office.

Dmitry Savluchenko, head of the family, youth and sports department of the Kherson military-civilian administration, was killed in a bomb attack.

The blast burned two cars and shattered the windows of a nearby four-story house.

Putin collaborator Askyar Laishev, who worked for Ukraine’s intelligence agency before switching sides in 2014, was obliterated in a car bomb blast in Luhansk earlier this month.

Assassins also take advantage of Putin allies in daring missions on Russian territory.

Local pro-Putin official Volodymyr Saldo is in hospital in Moscow after being poisoned, while former deputy Kremlin chief Vyacheslav Volodin, 58, narrowly escaped death when Ukrainian missiles struck a Donetsk office where he was few minutes after his departure.

Other notable hits include the one about pro-Russian activist and blogger Valery Kuleshov, who despite having no training wanted to become police chief under the occupying power.

One of the resistance’s earliest casualties was Wlodymyr Struk, a pro-Russian mayor who welcomed Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.
He was kidnapped from his home and shot in the heart.

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