Former adviser to Ukraine's ex-PM Azarov injured in Moscow car bomb, second blast in Russia in two days
A car bomb in Moscow has injured Sergei Zavorotny, a former adviser to Ukraine's pro-Putin ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russia's Investigative Committee says. Zavorotny was behind the wheel when the explosion happened on Friday morning, and he was taken to hospital, investigators added.
Azarov was Ukraine's pro-Russian former prime minister. He resigned in 2014 and fled to Russia; Zavorotny had been his aide until then.
In a statement on Telegram, the Investigative Committee said Zavorotny was receiving medical care at one of the city's hospitals. It said a set of necessary investigative actions was being carried out and a number of examinations would be appointed, including medical and explosives examinations.
Unconfirmed reports from Russia claim he has lost his left arm and suffered a brain injury, broken ribs and injuries to his right leg. Those reports have not been officially confirmed.
The explosion came a day after a similar car bomb in the Pushkinsky District of Saint Petersburg killed a Russian colonel, a member of the Russian military, on Thursday. Russia says the car bombs are the latest in a series of attacks targeting pro-Kremlin figures.
The blasts come against the backdrop of peace talks in Dublin aimed at ending the war. This week has seen informal peace talks at a military airbase. US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff earlier spoke 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 the European voice could not be confined to just member states, paving the way for the UK to have a role. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the pledge of European involvement.
Strikes by both sides continued overnight. Ukrainian authorities said a hospital had been targeted by Russian bombardment and that three people, including a 17-year-old boy, were 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, another four died in the southern Volgograd region after an industrial zone was hit by drones, and a further person died in the Bryansk border region.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell would join Zelensky, Witkoff and Kushner for talks in Dublin. But hours later Downing Street said the meetings had been delayed, which meant the national security adviser could no longer join them.
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.
