Putin Ally Killed in Car Bomb Attack in Occupied Luhansk

Mikhail Filiponenko, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin was killed in a car bomb attack in the occupied city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, an official said.

Filiponenko's colleague, Yuri Yurov, announced the news of his death on social media channel Telegram.

Filiponenko, a lawmaker in the Moscow-backed Luhansk assembly, had been active in the region's pro-Russian separatist movement since 2014, Reuters reported. Luhansk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia says it annexed in the fall of 2022.

"An hour ago in Luhansk, our colleague, deputy of the People's Council of the LPR [Luhansk People's Republic], former head of the JCCC of the LPR, former head of the department of the People's Militia of the LPR, the man who stood at the origins of the creation of the people's militia of the republic, Colonel Mikhail Yuryevich Filiponenko, tragically died," Yurov wrote. "The kingdom of heaven! We mourn together with our families and loved ones!"

Filiponenko's son, Ivan, told local news agency the Luhansk Information Center that his father was killed after an explosive device went off in his car.

Russian media published photos showing Filiponenko's damaged vehicle, with blood smeared across the driver's seat and a back window.

Drivers passing by saw the explosion, according to state media. One of the eyewitnesses told state-run news agency RIA Novosti that people tried to help Filiponenko, but he died at the scene.

Russia's Investigative Committee said that it had launched a criminal investigation into the car bomb attack.

Ukraine hasn't commented. Newsweek has contacted the foreign ministries of Russia and Ukraine by email for comment.

It wasn't the first attempt on Filiponenko's life; he was injured when an explosive device went off in his car on February 21, 2022.

A number of high-profile Putin allies have been targeted in attacks since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In October, an attempt was made on the life of Oleg Tsaryov, a Ukrainian-born pro-Russia politician, in annexed Crimea, state-run media reported.

Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-backed official in the annexed southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, said Tsaryov was shot and was in serious condition.

The former Ukrainian lawmaker had been named as Putin's possible choice to lead regime change in Kyiv, a Western intelligence official told the Financial Times in an interview published on February 14, 2022, days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Tsaryov had dismissed the possibility that he had been handpicked by Putin to run a puppet government in Kyiv.

"Oleg's condition is very serious. He is currently in intensive care. There was no stabbing. Oleg was shot," Rogov wrote on his Telegram channel at the time.

Tsaryov's current condition isn't clear, however, he has since filmed a sit-down interview that was posted on his Telegram channel.

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