Car bomb wounds former Azarov aide in Moscow; colonel killed in St Petersburg blast

A car bomb in Moscow wounded Sergei Zavorotny, a former adviser to ex-Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Friday.

Zavorotny, 72, was driving a black Toyota when the explosive device detonated. Azarov told Russian television that his condition in hospital was "rather critical." Russia's Investigative Committee said Zavorotny was taken to a city hospital and that investigators were conducting examinations, including medical and explosives analysis.

The attack came a day after a car bomb in the Pushkinsky District of St Petersburg killed a member of the Russian military. Reputable sources identified the target as a high-ranking figure in the 6th Guards Air and Air Defence Forces Army, though Russia has not officially confirmed his name.

Both blasts are seen as part of a series of attacks on military and prominent figures linked to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zavorotny worked as a press aide to Azarov in Kyiv until 2014. After pro-Kremlin Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was removed from power, Azarov fled to Russia. A 2020 US Senate report on interference in the 2016 US presidential election described Zavorotny at the time as an SVR officer involved in influence operations.

Separately, Ukrainian authorities reported that a hospital was hit by Russian bombardment and that three people — including a 17-year-old — were killed in attacks across southern Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. Russia said a Ukrainian strike on an industrial facility in Samara killed four people, and four more died after a drone strike on an industrial zone in Volgograd. A further person died in the Bryansk border region.