Former State Duma lawmaker turned opposition figure Ilya Ponomaryov was injured in a drone strike at his home outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday, in what appears to have been an assassination attempt.
“Today seems to be my second birthday,” Ponomaryov wrote on X (formerly Twitter), claiming that the aerial attack marked the fifth time he has survived an attempt on his life.
Ponomaryov was the only State Duma lawmaker to vote against Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. He went into exile in 2016 after being charged with embezzlement, and since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has called for the violent overthrow of President Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian news website Obozrevatel published a photo of the ex-lawmaker, whose face and chest were covered in blood. Law enforcement authorities also released photos of a three-story house they said was targeted in the overnight attack but did not mention its owner.
Obozrevatel, citing anonymous sources, reported that Ponomaryov’s home was targeted by three drones the previous night. Air defense systems allegedly shot down those drones, which caused “insignificant” damage.
However, this time a drone exploded “five meters from the main entrance door,” the outlet reported, adding that “Ponomaryov is safe and under protection now.”
Ukrainian military officials said earlier that a man and a woman were hospitalized after being injured by drone debris in the latest Russian strikes following a large-scale barrage the previous night.