Kiev explosion kills bodyguard, wounds Ukrainian MP and two others
An explosion in Kiev on Wednesday killed a bodyguard and wounded three people including Ukrainian lawmaker Ihor Mosiychuk, Ukrainian officials said, describing the incident as a deliberate attack.
Mosiychuk, a member of the opposition Radical Party, has been hospitalised but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, while his bodyguard was killed, according to party leader Oleh Lyashko.
Interior Ministry adviser Zoryan Shkiryak said it appeared a motorcycle had been blown up near the entrance to a TV station.
Kiev police spokeswoman Oksana Blyshchyk said that at 7.05pm GMT authorities had received information about a car explosion in the Solomensky district of Kiev.
There was no immediate word from police on possible suspects or a motive for the attack, but Lyashko said he had no doubt the incident was politically motivated.
“The attempt on Mosiychuk’s life was linked to his professional activities and political position,” he said on Facebook.
In June, a colonel in Ukraine’s military intelligence was killed by a car bomb in central Kiev, while in 2016 a prominent investigative journalist, Pavel Sheremet, was killed by the detonation of an explosive device in his car.
Radical Party lawmaker Evhen Deidei posted photos on his Facebook page from the scene of Wednesday’s attack which showed the burnt-out shell of a motorcycle in front of a blast-hit vehicle.
“Judging by the damage to the car and the shrapnel holes in the doors, the power of the explosion was pretty strong,” he said. “There is a lot of blood on the stairs, where Ihor was situated at the time of the explosion.”
The interior ministry’s Shkiryak said political analyst Vitaliy Bala was one of the three wounded in the blast.