Russian Media: Former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin injured in bombing

Russia’s former deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin and the head of the government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Vitaly Khochenko were injured on Wednesday when Ukrainian forces bombed a hotel on the outskirts of the regional capital of the same name, Russian news agencies reported.

Donetsk Oblast, controlled by pro-Russian forces and the Russian military, is part of the industrial region known as Donbas and is at the center of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Mr Rogozin, a former head of Russia’s space agency, former deputy prime minister and former Russian ambassador to the UN, founder of a far-right political party, advises on military issues in the two Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which Moscow announced this year it had annexed. An associate of his cited by the Russian state news agency TASS assured that his life was not in danger.

The fact that Mr Khochenko was injured was confirmed by his representative to Russian news agencies.

The hotel was bombed with a high-precision weapon, sources told Russian news agencies. A Russian parliamentarian, who was also at the hotel, believes that the Ukrainian side was aware of the presence of the two politicians.

Mr. Rogozin was director general of Roscosmos until July. He reacted with indignation and issuing threats when the space agency was sanctioned over its role in the Russian military industry earlier this year. He is believed to have been replaced — by former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov — to de-escalate tensions, which Russian officials have confirmed.

RES-EMP

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