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Politics

Ukraine intell chief killed in Kyiv bomb attack

June 27, 2017

A Ukrainian military intelligence chief was killed instantly when his car exploded at a Kyiv intersection. It's reminiscent of two recent broad-daylight killings of a journalist and a Russian opposition politician.

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Ukraine Maxim Shapoval durch Autobombe in Kiew getötet
Image: Reuters/V. Ogirenko

Ukrainian intelligence officer killed in car bombing

Ukrainian media identified Tuesday's casualty as Colonel Maxim Shapoval, the chief of the Ukrainian military intelligence's special forces.

The blast coincided with a Ukrainian central bank warning that some Ukrainian banks had been hit by a cyber attack.

Photos issued by Kyiv police showed Shapoval's mangled car in the middle of the street.

Police said the explosion occurred early morning while the car was moving. A passerby was hospitalized with injuries.

Daylight killings


In July last year, prominent investigate journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in central Kyiv while driving to front a radio talk show.

Last March, Russian opposition politician Denis Voronenkovwas shot dead outside a hotel in central Kyiv.

Sheremet had quit Russian broadcasting in 2014 in protest at the Kremlin's stance on Ukraine's pro-Europe course and annexation of Crimea.

Beerdigung von Journalist Pavel Sheremet
Thousands attended Sheremet's funeral in KyivImage: picture-alliance/O. Khomenko/Pacific Press

Voronenkov had recently relocated to Ukraine after being critical the Kremlin's seizure of Crimea while denying Russian fraud charges over real estate dealings.

Moscow trial delayed 

Sheremet had been a friend of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader and former Russian deputy prime minister who was shot dead in February 2015 on a bridge near the Kremlin.

The Moscow trial of Nemtsov's alleged killers, including a soldier from Chechnya, was delayed further on Tuesday when the judge removed two jurors.

ipj/rc (dpa, Reuters, AP)