A automotive bomb injured Russian nationalist author Zakhar Prilepin and killed one individual in a village east of Moscow on Saturday, Russian authorities mentioned.
The 47-year-old Prilepin has been a fervent supporter of the Kremlin’s struggle in Ukraine. Since 2014, he has taken half in hostilities alongside pro-Russian separatists in japanese Ukraine and run a volunteer battalion.
The Russian Ministry of Inner Affairs mentioned the blast occurred in a village within the western Nizhny Novgorod area, in accordance with Russian information company Tass. It reported that an explosive machine was positioned beneath the automotive and that Prilepin’s accidents required him to be hospitalized.
The author’s press secretary mentioned he was doing nice. “What precisely occurred just isn’t clear for the time being,” she informed Russia media outlet RTVI.
A Crimean partisan group claimed duty for the blast. Russia has occupied the Crimean peninsula since illegally annexing it from Ukraine in 2014.
“The Atesh motion has been looking Prilepin for the reason that starting of the yr,” the group mentioned on Telegram. “Our predictions at all times come true, as a result of we not solely communicate, but additionally do,” it mentioned. The Washington Publish couldn’t independently confirm its claims.
The Kremlin mentioned it could not instantly touch upon the incident. “It’s unknown. We should first get data from legislation enforcement companies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed Tass when requested if Ukraine was accountable.
However Overseas Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova blamed Kyiv’s Western backers. She described the obvious assault because the “direct duty of the USA and Britain.”
“Zakhar Prilepin was injured. Before everything, we want him a speedy restoration,” she mentioned on Russian community REN TV. “What we noticed was carried out by the so-called collective West.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak informed The Washington Publish that Kyiv had “nothing to do with the incident” and that there was no “strategic sense” for Ukraine to hold out the assault.
Ukraine’s army intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov declined to remark. “That Zakhar Prilepin is a struggle prison — that is an apparent reality. All else we’re refraining from commenting on,” he mentioned.
One yr of Russia’s struggle in Ukraine
Portraits of Ukraine: Each Ukrainian’s life has modified since Russia launched its full-scale invasion one yr in the past — in methods each massive and small. They’ve realized to outlive and help one another under extreme circumstances, in bomb shelters and hospitals, destroyed condominium complexes and ruined marketplaces. Scroll through portraits of Ukrainians reflecting on a year of loss, resilience and fear.
Battle of attrition: Over the previous yr, the struggle has morphed from a multi-front invasion that included Kyiv within the north to a battle of attrition largely concentrated alongside an expanse of territory within the east and south. Follow the 600-mile front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces and take a look at where the fighting has been concentrated.
A yr of residing aside: Russia’s invasion, coupled with Ukraine’s martial legislation stopping fighting-age males from leaving the nation, has pressured agonizing selections for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian households about how to balance safety, duty and love, with once-intertwined lives having turn into unrecognizable. Right here’s what a train station full of goodbyes appeared like final yr.
Deepening international divides: President Biden has trumpeted the reinvigorated Western alliance solid throughout the struggle as a “international coalition,” however a better look suggests the world is far from united on issues raised by the Ukraine war. Proof abounds that the hassle to isolate Putin has failed and that sanctions haven’t stopped Russia, because of its oil and gasoline exports.
