Latvian Mayor Injured by Russian Missile Blast in Ukraine

The mayor of Ogre, Latvia, Egils Helmanis, was wounded in the Donetsk region when he found himself at the epicentre of a Russian rocket explosion.

The Gaze writes about this, referring to a Facebook post by the deputy speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Olena Kondratiuk.

Kondratyuk said that Helmanis was wounded as a result of Russian shelling while in Sloviansk.

‘He was caught in the epicentre of a Russian missile explosion. Fortunately, he is alive and in satisfactory condition. He is currently being transported to Latvia for treatment,’ she added.

The deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada noted that Helmanis has been regularly visiting Ukraine on volunteer missions since 2014. He helps the sister cities of Ogre – Chernihiv, Popasna, and Nizhyn. 

In August 2024, a Reuters employee, a British citizen, was killed during the shelling of Kramatorsk. Polish journalist Monika Andrushevska was also injured at that time.

Last week, during a large-scale shelling of Kyiv, the consular section of the Polish embassy was damaged, and on the night of 16 July, Russian UAVs targeted a Polish company's enterprise in Vinnytsia.