Bomb plot is Russian, says Ukraine MP hurt in blast
JACINDA ARDERN today promised to lead “a government for all New Zealanders” as she was sworn in as the country’s prime minister. Ms Ardern, at 37 the country’s youngest leader for 150 years, and other senior MPs took their oaths at the ceremony in Wellington before greeting several hundred well-wishers in front of the parliament. A UKRAINIAN politician wounded in an explosion in Kiev that killed two people today blamed Russia for the blast — which officials called an act of terrorism.
Ihor Mosiychuk, a member of the populist opposition Radical Party, was hospitalised but did not suffer lifethreatening injuries, while his bodyguard and a passerby were killed. Two others were wounded.
Ukraine’s state security service (SBU) said unknown perpetrators had rigged a motorcycle with explosives that detonated last night as Mr Mosiychuk left a TV station. Radical Party leader Oleg Lyashko said he had no doubt the incident was politically motivated.
“I believe that the initiators are in Moscow, the executors are in Kiev,” Mr Mosiychuk said on Facebook.
There was no immediate comment from police on possible suspects or a motive for the attack.
Since fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014, incidents involving explosives outside the conflict zone have risen. However vehicle bombings in the capital are relatively rare. In June, a colonel in Ukraine’s military intelligence was killed by a car bomb in central Kiev. In 2016 a prominent investigative journalist, Pavel Sheremet, was killed by an explosive device in his car.
Radical Party MP Evhen Deidei posted photos on his Facebook page from the scene of the latest incident showing the burnt-out shell of a motorcycle in front of a damaged vehicle.
“Judging by the damage to the car and the shrapnel holes in the doors, the power of the explosion was pretty strong,” he said. “There is a lot of blood on the stairs, where Ihor was situated.”