Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine and the West of being behind a car explosion that seriously injured Russian combatant and writer Zakhar Prilepin on May 6.
The ministry said in a statement that it was investigating the incident, claiming, without evidence, that "it is obvious that this is another terrorist act organized and carried out by the Kyiv regime (and) its Western curators," particularly the United States.
Ukraine has neither denied nor confirmed any involvement, but Atesh, a Crimean Tatar partisan movement, claimed the responsibility for the attack. The claim has not yet been confirmed or denied by anyone.
Prilepin, active as a Russian proxy fighter in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Oblast in 2016-2018, was injured in a car explosion in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. Russian state news agency TASS reported later that Prilepin was in a medically induced coma following the explosion.
A suspect in his assassination attempt was arrested, according to Russian media.
Prilepin was sanctioned in 2022 by Ukraine, the European Union, the U.K. and Canada for supporting the Russian invasion. He joined Russia's National Guard to fight against Ukraine in January, according to several Russian media reports.
The alleged assassination attempt follows similar attacks against pro-war Russians and Russian proxies in occupied territories of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
In April, an explosion in a cafe in downtown St. Petersburg killed Russian propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky and injured a dozen others.
