Russian combatant and writer Zakhar Prilepin is in a medically induced coma after his operation, Russian state news agency TASS reported on May 6.
Prilepin, a Russian proxy fighter in Donetsk Oblast in 2016-2018, was injured in a car explosion in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region on May 6.
He was hospitalized with a serious leg injury, news agency RBC reported, citing a source close to the Russian Interior Ministry.
Pictures and videos shared online show a car flipped around and destroyed in a rural area.
A suspect in his assassination attempt on Russian combatant 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.
Atesh, a Crimean Tatar partisan movement, has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
No one has confirmed or denied Atesh's claim yet.
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.
Anastasiia Lapatina
