A regional Russian lawmaker said he was targeted in a car bomb attack in occupied Ukraine over the weekend.
Denis Kharitonov, who is a deputy from the ruling United Russia party in the southern Astrakhan region’s legislative assembly, said earlier this year that he had joined the military and was sent for deployment on the front line.
Over the weekend, he published a video on Telegram of what he said was his car burning on the side of the road somewhere in occupied Ukraine.
“I use my own car to carry out duties in the zone of the special military operation,” Kharitonov wrote, using the Kremlin’s preferred term for its invasion of Ukraine. “Today, while performing another duty, [the vehicle] exploded and burned to the ground.”
He did not say whether he was in the car at the time of the explosion, nor did he say where it occurred, but noted that a “special brigade department” was investigating the incident.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been blown up in my car,” Kharitonov said, without clarifying whether he had been targeted in similar attacks in the past.
Scores of Russian officials and pro-war figures have been targeted in assassination plots since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow often blames Kyiv for the attacks.
