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A pro-Russian separatist, known to be a close associate of ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, was the alleged target of an explosion in Moscow
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A senior eastern Ukrainian separatist who had organised combat units to fight against his own country has reportedly been killed following an explosion in northwest Moscow.
At least five people were wounded or killed after what has been reported as a bomb detonated at the Alye Parusa residential complex in the capital.
Russian state media site Tass claimed Armen Sarkisyan, 46, a senior pro-Russian paramilitary from east Ukraine‘s Donetsk region, died in hospital after being seriously injured in the explosion. They added the claim that the explosion had been an “assassination” attempt. One of Mr Sarkisyan’s bodyguards was killed immediately by the blast.
Mr Sarkisyan is a close associate of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin former president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted after the Euromaidan revolution in 2014. Ukraine’s security services, the SBU, says Mr Sarkisyan has been on their international wanted list since then for organising murders in central Kyiv.
After the full-scale invasion in 2022, Mr Sarkisyan also reportedly organised the “Arbat” Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion to fight against Ukraine.
It comes as Ukraine struck energy facilities in southern Russia with dozens of drones, triggering fires at a major oil refinery and gas processing plant and disrupting flights from the Volga to the Caucasus Mountains, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.
Mr Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible and said he is ready to meet with Putin. Mr Putin congratulated Mr Trump on his election and stated he is ready to meet the US leader to discuss Ukraine and energy.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied any direct contact with the US about preparations for a phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, which would precede an eventual meeting later this year.
However, senior Russian officials have visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, according to the Russian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.
One source said there was still some opposition to the idea in Russia as some diplomats and intelligence officials were pointing to the close military and security links that both the Kingdom and the UAE have with the United States.
The pro-Russian Ukrainian collaborator who was seriously injured in an explosion in northwest Moscow this morning has died, Russian state media site Tass has reported.
Pro-Russian separatist Armen Sarkisyan has reportedly lost a leg and is being rushed into surgery after being caught up in an explosion in northwest Moscow.
There are varying accounts of Mr Sarkisyan’s injuries but Russian state media Tass reports that the figure is in intensive care and is being prepared for surgery.
Ukrainian defences shot down 2,800 missiles and drones fired by Russia in January, Kyiv’s defence ministry has claimed.
We have been reporting that an explosion in a luxury residential complex in northwest Moscow, described by Russian state media as an “assassination”, has seriously wounded a senior pro-Putin Ukrainian collaborator.
The figure in question, Armen Sarkisyan, from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, is a known close associate of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician who was ousted in 2014 following a pro-democracy movement. He later fled to Russia.
In December 2024, Ukraine’s security services (SBU) notified Mr Sarkisyan in absentia that he was being investigated for forming combat units to fight against Ukraine and assisting Russia.
In a statement on Telegram, the SBU wrote: “Comprehensive measures are underway to find and punish the perpetrator for crimes against our state.”
Below, we have some bullet-pointed information on Mr Sarkisyan.
The Kremlin, asked on Monday about US president Donald Trump’s remarks that talks and meetings with Russia are scheduled, said that contacts were “apparently planned”, and that Moscow had a planning process.
A Russian energy plant targeted by Ukrainian drones overnight was shut down following warnings of an imminent aerial attack, a local official has claimed.
Igor Babushkin, governor of the Astrakhan region, said the plant, located hundreds of miles from Ukraine and further still from Ukrainian forces, posted a video of him at the facility this morning.
“Having received early signals about the danger of the UAV [Unammed Aerial Vehicles], the enterprise stopped its work,” he said.
The plant, controlled by gas giant Gazprom, is capable of processing around 8,340 metric tons of gas condensate per day.
Unverified videos on social media showed giant flames and black smoke leaping into the night sky above a processing plant, as bystanders expressed shock at the size of the fire.
Ukrainian Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the National Security and Defense Council, said the Astrakhan gas processing plant had been hit.
The crack and the ear-splitting blast – two in a row, then a third – rattle windows and set off car alarms. But, in a city under constant bombardment, a smoker in a doorway tips a little ash and takes another drag.
A hotel receptionist, pooled in lamplight, doesn’t look up from her papers.
The explosions, they know, come from outgoing long-range anti-aircraft missiles being fired from the centre of the Ukrainian capital against incoming attacks.
While the citizens of Kyiv won’t move for these, the sound of lawnmower engines in the sky will prompt an immediate race to cellars and shelters.
For swarms of Iranian-made Russian Shahed unmanned drones are fired at Ukraine almost every night. They’re about two metres across, delta winged, and carry between 30kg and 50kg of explosive. They are guided by a primitive GPS system and driven by whining two-stroke engines.
Read the special dispatch by our world affairs editor Sam Kiley:
Swarms of Iranian-made Russian Shahed unmanned drones target Ukraine almost every night – it is up to these men and their World War Two-style machine guns to shoot the UAVs out of the sky. World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley reports from the Kyiv region
An explosion in Moscow that Russian state media has described as an “assassination” attempt has seriously wounded a senior pro-Russian paramilitary from eastern Ukraine.
One person was killed and four injured in the blast in northwest Moscow this morning.
Among the wounded is Armen Sarkisyan, a senior pro-Russian paramilitary from east Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Russia’s Tass news agency has reported.
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