You're reading: Luhansk separatist leader Plotnitsky wounded in car bombing

Igor Plotnitsky, the Russian-backed separatist leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, was wounded in an apparent car bombing in Luhansk this morning, according to separatist media reports later confirmed by Ukraine’s Security Service.

Plotnitsky was in his Land Cruiser during the
7:50 a.m. explosion. He was wounded as a result, though the extent of his
injuries remains unclear. He is now hospitalized in a Luhansk medical facility.

The explosion injured several other people and
was powerful enough to damage the facades of nearby buildings.

At noon, Sergey Kozlov, another separatist
leader who refers to himself as a Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the
self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said that Plotnitsky’s state of
health is currently stable and is life is not in danger. The attack is now
under investigation by separatist forces, he added.

Oleg Tsaryov, a former Party of Regions’
lawmaker and separatist supporter now residing in Russia, placed the blame on
Ukraine, tweeting that “Plotnitsky is in severe condition in hospital. His car
was involved in a planned explosion of great strength. The main version (of the
attack) is Ukrainian subversion.”

Other analysts have already suggested that
Russia could be behind the attack in an effort to remove people that sabotage
their orders.

Adviser to the head of
the Security Service of Ukraine Yuriy Tandit said his sources confirmed there
was an attack on Plotnitsky, but added it could be a result of the struggle for
power among separatists leaders over the separatist-controlled areas.

“This is only
confirmation of the fact that there [on the Donbas occupied areas] the power
struggle continues, there are cash flows and they [the separatists] divide
between them these [cash] channels,” he told Ukraine’s “112 Ukraine” channel in
an interview. Tandit also suggested that the attack could have come from
Russia, arguing that nothing happens in the occupied Donbas without the
influence of the Kremlin.

Ukrainian political analyst Taras Berezovets
also believes that Russian servicemen might be behind the murder attempt on
Plotnitsky. “Militants of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic began
to openly sabotage the orders of Russian command. The attempt on his
(Plotnitsky) murder may be related to the plans of escalation of the military
situation in Donbas,” Berezovets wrote on his Facebook page today.