The site of a car explosion which wounded Sergei Zavorotni in Moscow on Friday
Published5 hours ago
A car bomb in Moscow has injured a former adviser to Ukraine's pro-Putin ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russia's Investigative Committee says.
Sergei Zavorotny was behind the wheel when the explosion happened on Friday morning. He was taken to hospital, investigators added.
Zavorotny had been an aide to Azarov until the prime minister resigned in 2014 and fled to Russia. The car bomb went off a day after a similar explosion killed a Russian colonel in Saint Petersburg.
It comes against a backdrop of peace talks in Dublin aimed at ending the war, although strikes by both Russia and Ukraine continued overnight.
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"Serhiy Zavorotny, a former adviser to the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, who was driving a car, was injured. He was taken to one of the city hospitals, where he is receiving medical care," a statement from the committee said on Telegram.
"A set of necessary investigative actions is being carried out. A number of examinations will be appointed, including medical and explosives."
Unconfirmed reports from Russia claim he has lost his left arm and suffered a brain injury, broken ribs and right leg.
On Thursday a car bomb in the Pushkinsky District of Saint Petersburg killed a member of the Russian military.
Russia say the car bombs are the latest in a series of attacks targeting pro-Kremlin figures.
Overnight Ukraine and Russia exchanged attacks on each other's territories.
Ukrainian authorities said a hospital had been targeted by Russian bombardment.
They added that three people, including a 17-year-old boy, were also killed in attacks across southern Odesa and Zaporizhzhia.
Russia said a Ukrainian strike on an industrial facility in the central Samara region killed four people.
And in the southern Volgograd region another four died after an industrial zone was hit by drones. A further person died in the Bryansk border region, an area that is often fired upon.
Ukraine say these are retaliatory attacks over Russia's persistent targeting of its cities.
Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Moscow was the latest of many trips the US envoys have made to see Vladimir Putin
This week has seen informal peace talks in Dublin at a military airbase.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff earlier had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
On Thursday in Dublin, Kushner said Putin was willing to accept European input in the peace process.
On Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that European voice could not be confined to just member states – paving the way for the UK to have a role.
Ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Council, he said: "The discussions today will focus perhaps both on the content and the type of peace that Europe wants to secure, the sustainable peace, and then also in terms of there will be discussion, obviously, in terms of who represents Europe."
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the pledge of European involvement.
Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and about a fifth of the country is now under occupation.
Continued efforts to broker peace have failed so far, despite intensive talks.
On Thursday Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell would join Zelensky, Witkoff and Kushner for talks in Dublin.
But hours later Downing Street said they had been delayed, which meant that the national security adviser could no longer join the meetings.
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