MOSCOW: A car blast in Moscow on Friday wounded a former adviser to Ukraine’s fugitive ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russian officials said, as they launched a criminal probe into the explosion.

The apparent attack came a day after a Russian colonel was killed in a car explosion in Saint Petersburg – the latest in a string of killings of Russian military figures.

Sergei Zavorotny was behind the wheel when the car exploded on Friday morning, leaving him wounded, Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement.

Zavorotny “has been taken to one of the city’s hospitals, where he is receiving medical treatment”.

Images from the site of the blast show the burned out and mangled chassis of a car purported to be that of Zavorotny, with Russian investigators inspecting the scene, sealed off with a red-and-white tape.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2026