Ukraine, US blamed for car bomb attack on Russian writer

MOSCOW/KYIV — A prominent Russian writer, Zakhar Prilepin, was wounded in a car bombing that killed his driver on Saturday and investigators said a detained suspect admitted acting on behalf of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine launched more than 10 drones overnight on the Crimean Peninsula, including three on the port of Sevastopol, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol, early on Sunday, adding that air defense systems repelled all the attacks on Sevastopol. "No objects (in Sevastopol) were damaged," Razvozhayev said on the Telegram messaging app.

The car attack took place three days after the Kremlin said Ukraine attempted to hit the Kremlin with drones, which Ukraine denied.

Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine and the Western states backing it, particularly the United States, of the latest attack on the 47-year-old writer, a prominent figure in Russia's cultural landscape.

Ukraine's security services, in its standard response, refused to confirm or deny involvement. Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia of staging the incident.

Russia's state Investigative Committee said Prilepin's Audi Q7 was blown up in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region, about 400 kilometers east of Moscow, which it was treating as an act of terrorism. It said Prilepin had been taken to hospital.

The committee released a photograph showing the white vehicle lying overturned on a track, with a deep crater beside it and pieces of metal strewn nearby.

The committee later issued a statement saying investigators were questioning a suspect identified as Alexander Permyakov.

"The suspect was detained and, in the course of questioning, he provided testimony that he acted on the instructions of the Ukrainian special services," said the statement.

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod region, said on Telegram that doctors had successfully operated on Prilepin and that he was now under sedation to help his recovery.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, in a statement, said: "Responsibility for this and other terrorist acts lies not only with Ukrainian authorities, but also their Western patrons, the United States in the first instance."

Also on Saturday, the head of the UN's nuclear power watchdog warned that the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear station had become "increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous" and called for steps to ensure its safe operation.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued the warning in view of what he said were evacuations underway in the nearby town of Enerhodar. "The general situation in the area near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is becoming increasingly unpredictable and potentially dangerous," Grossi said.

"I'm extremely concerned about the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant. We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment."

Agencies Via Xinhua