A onetime spokesman for Mykola Azarov, the pro-Russian former prime minister of Ukraine who served from 2010 to 2014, was wounded by a car bomb in Moscow on Friday, Russian media reported. Kommersant said Sergei Zavorotniy was hospitalized after a car exploded on a street in Chertanovo, a district of the Russian capital. Ren TV and the 112 Telegram channel reported that he lost his left arm and was being treated for a concussion, rib fractures and other injuries.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes, has opened an investigation into the incident. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Azarov, Zavorotniy's former boss, fled to Russia in 2014 when the Maidan Revolution ousted President Viktor Yanukovych after he broke a promise to develop closer ties with the European Union. Azarov told TASS on Friday that he had no information about the bombing except that Zavorotniy had survived.S1S2

The attack is the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts inside Russia. On Thursday a member of the Russian military was killed in a car bomb in St Petersburg. Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility in some cases while denying others, and Kyiv has not commented on Thursday's attack.S1S2

Elsewhere on Friday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged overnight drone attacks that killed several people. In Odesa, two people were killed and five injured, and a 17-year-old boy was killed in a Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia, according to acting regional governor Mykhailo Semikin. In the Russian city of Volgograd, four people were killed and two injured, the regional government said.S2

On the diplomatic front, EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said at an EU summit in Dublin that Russia does not want anyone strong at the negotiating table, and that the EU must first secure a ceasefire. European leaders remain under pressure to name a representative for US-mediated Ukraine-Russia peace talks after US envoy Steve Witkoff said Europeans would be present at the next meetings. Kallas and EU Council President Antonio Costa are tipped as likely candidates, but no single figure has yet been agreed.S2