The former head of a notorious prison in Russian-occupied Ukraine has reportedly been killed in a car explosion in Donetsk, in what is seen as the latest in a series of attacks on pro-Kremlin figures in the occupied territories.
Ukrainian media say that Sergei Yevsyukov, 49, was killed by an explosive device planted under his car, and one media outlet reported that the explosive was equivalent to about 100 grams of TNT.
Yevsyukov was the head of the Olenivka prison when it held dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war He was killed in a missile attack in July 2022.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack but Ukraine said Russia targeted the prison to destroy evidence of torture and other war crimes committed there.
Russian authorities said on Monday that they had opened a criminal investigation into the incident that occurred near the city center.
They did not confirm their identities but said two local residents were injured.
Ukrainian bloggers reported that Yevsyukov's wife was also injured in the attack, lost her leg, and is in hospital in critical condition.
“(We are) conducting a detailed examination of the accident scene and a set of operational and investigative measures,” Russia's Investigative Committee said.
Footage of the scene shows the burning white SUV parked on a main street in Donetsk.
Yevsyukov's killing is seen as the latest in a series of targeted attacks by Ukraine on Russian officers, Russian-appointed military officials and pro-Kremlin public figures in occupied Ukrainian territories and in Russia.
In November, senior naval officer Valery Trankovsky, whom Ukraine has accused of war crimes, was killed in Crimea. The French news agency reported last month, citing a source in the Ukrainian security services, that his assassination was planned by Ukrainian intelligence.
In October, Ukraine claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed an official at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhya nuclear power plant.
In April, a car bomb exploded in Russian-controlled territory in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, killing a Moscow-appointed government official.
Russian-backed forces took control of the city of Donetsk and parts of the wider region in eastern Ukraine for the first time in 2014, and Moscow has partly controlled the region since then.
The region has consistently witnessed some of the heaviest fighting of the war over the past three years or so.
