Col Maksim Shapoval, who was head of a special forces unit, killed and passersby injured in terrorist act, government says

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A high-ranking Ukrainian military intelligence official has been killed by a car bomb in Kiev in what authorities are calling an act of terrorism.

An explosive device destroyed the Mercedes being driven by Col Maksim Shapoval at 8.15am local time, police said.

The car’s bonnet was blown open and its roof and driver side door almost completely destroyed, video footage from the scene showed.

“The picture of the crime looks like it was a planned act of terrorism,” interior ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told local media. The military prosecutor said his office would lead an investigation.

Police said a female passerby with shrapnel wounds to her legs received medical treatment after the explosion, as did an elderly man who suffered shrapnel wounds to his neck.

According to the defence ministry, Shapoval was a colonel in military intelligence. The Ukrainian Pravda newspaper quoted law enforcement sources saying he had headed a special forces unit.

Yury Butusov, editor of the Censor.net news website, said in a Facebook post that Shapoval’s unit had fought in eastern Ukraine, where a conflict with Russia-backed separatists that broke out in 2014 has killed more than 10,000 people. He claimed Russian intelligence could have killed Shapoval.

Shapoval’s death comes almost a year after prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed by a similar explosion in Kiev as he drove to work. A documentary film released last month revealed evidence suggesting that Ukraine’s spy agency may have witnessed the planting of the car bomb that killed Sheremet. No one has been brought to justice in the murder case.

A number of other public figures have also been assassinated in and around Kiev in recent years. Denis Voronenkov, a former Russian MP who fled to Ukraine, was shot dead in central Kiev in March. Pro-Russian journalist Oles Buzina was shot in a drive-by in 2015, and lawyer Yuri Grabovsky, who had represented a Russian soldier captured in Ukraine, was found dead with a gunshot wound in 2016.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption CCTV captured the moment of the explosion in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev

A Ukrainian military intelligence officer was killed by a bomb under his car while he was driving through the country's capital, Kiev, officials say.

The victim has been named as Col Maxim Shapoval. His car was destroyed and two passers-by were slightly injured.

Officials said the incident was a "terrorist act".

No motive has been suggested but analysts say it may be connected to the Russian-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine.

The explosion happened as the Mercedes was moving at around 08:00 local time (05:00 GMT), police said.

"At the present time the picture gathered of the crime suggests it was a planned terrorist act," Interior Ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said, without giving details of who they believed was behind the attack.

It is the latest in a series of attacks in Kiev. In March, former Russian MP Denis Voronenkov, a critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead outside a hotel in the capital.

And last July, a prominent investigative Belarusian journalist and also a Kremlin critic, Pavel Sheremet, was killed by a bomb in his car in the capital.</s>A senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer has been killed in a car bomb attack in the capital of Kiev, the authorities said on Tuesday.

According to the country’s defense ministry, the man was identified as Col. Maxim Shapoval of the Chief Directorate of Ukrainian military intelligence.

Shapoval’s car blew up in Kiev on Tuesday morning.

Some Ukrainian media reported that Shapoval was chief of military intelligence’s special forces.</s>A senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer was killed when a bomb detonated under his car in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev Tuesday, the Defense Ministry said, in an act the government is treating as terrorism.

Ukraine’s Chief Military Prosecutor said that authorities were looking for traces of involvement by Russia, who has supported...</s>Moscow: Authorities say a bomb planted under or inside a car has killed a senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer in the country's capital.

Photos from the scene showed the mangled vehicle in the middle of a Kiev intersection. Police say the car's driver was killed immediately and two passers-by were slightly injured in this morning's blast.

The Defense Ministry identified the victim as Colonel Maxim Shapoval of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence.

Ukrainian media reported that Shapoval was chief of military intelligence's special forces.

Kiev regional police chief Andriy Kryshchenko tells 112 television channel the unidentified explosive device was either attached to the bottom of the car or planted inside.

Investigators are treating the explosion as a terror attack but did not immediately say who was to blame.</s>A Ukrainian military intelligence colonel has been killed in a car bomb in what is being described as a 'terrorist act', it has emerged.

Police in the capital Kiev said an explosive device in the Mercedes blew up at about 5.15am while the car was moving, killing the driver and wounding a passer-by.

Dramatic footage shows the moment the blast happened while pictures show the burnt out remains of the vehicle in the aftermath of the explosion.

Ukraine's defence ministry named the victim as Colonel Maksym Shapoval and said he was an employee of the military's 'main intelligence directorate.'

The bomb went off several miles from the centre of the city. I was the latest deadly incident to rock the area, as crisis-hit Ukraine battles a bloody Russian-backed insurgency in its eastern regions.

'As a result of (the explosion) a member of the defence ministry's main intelligence department, Colonel Maksim Shapoval, was killed,' the defence ministry said in a statement.

The police and the ministry did not give further details or say who could be behind the attack.

Interior ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko said that judging by initial indications it appeared 'obvious' that the blast was caused by an explosive device, adding that investigators were probing it as terrorism.

'At the present time the picture gathered of the crime suggests it was a planned terrorist act,' Shevchenko said.

In early June a Ukrainian volunteer commander originally from the Russian region of Chechnya, who had once been jailed on suspicion of plotting to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot and seriously wounded by a would-be assassin.

In March former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov turned Kremlin critic was shot dead in central Kiev.

Last year high-profile independent journalist Pavel Sheremet was also killed in a car bombing in central Kiev.

There have also been a string of assassinations of rebel leaders in the war-torn east of the country that the insurgents have blamed on Kiev but Ukraine's government has pinned on infighting among the separatists.</s>Kiev car bomb kills colonel in Ukrainian military intelligence in first major attack in a year

A colonel in Ukraine's military intelligence has been killed by a car bomb in central Kiev, the Defence Ministry says, in an attack it described as a "terrorist act".

Police said an explosive device in the vehicle blew up while the car was moving on Tuesday morning (local time), killing the driver and wounding a passer-by.

"As a result of [the explosion] a member of the Defence Ministry's main intelligence department Colonel Maksim Shapoval was killed," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The police and the ministry did not give further details or say who could be behind the attack.

Since fighting with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014, the number of incidents involving explosives outside the conflict zone has increased, but car bombs are relatively rare.

The last major incident in Kiev occurred in July 2016, when prominent investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed by the detonation of an explosive device in his car.</s>A car blast in central Kiev has killed a senior official of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, according to a statement on its website. The attack has been described as a “terrorist act.”

“This morning on June 27 in the Solomensky district of Kiev, a car exploded killing a member of the main intelligence department of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, Colonel Maksim Shapoval,” the ministry’s statement reads.

National police, rescue workers, and bomb disposal engineers arrived at the scene of the blast, which has been branded a “terrorist attack.”

At 8:16am local time, police were notified that a Mercedes had blown up, according to Kiev police.

READ MORE: Renowned journalist killed in Kiev in car bomb attack

Local media report that the victim was 39 years old and served as the head of the military intelligence special forces reserve.

CCTV footage has emerged, showing the moment of the blast.

Two other people injured by the explosion received shrapnel wounds to their legs and chin.</s>Ukrainian authorities say that a senior military intelligence officer has been killed in a car bomb in the country's capital.

Police said in a statement that the driver of a luxury car was killed instantly as the vehicle blew up at a Kiev intersection Tuesday morning. Photos released by Kiev police showed the mangled car in the middle of the road. Kiev police say that a passer-by was hospitalized with injuries.

The Defense Ministry later identified the victim as Col. Maxim Shapoval of the Chief Directorate of Ukrainian military intelligence. Ukrainian media reported that Shapoval was chief of military intelligence's special forces.

Police said they were treating the explosion as a terrorist attack.</s>A senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer has been killed by a car bomb in Kiev, the country’s defence ministry has said. 



“As a result of [the explosion] a member of the defence ministry’s main intelligence department, Col Maksim Shapoval, was killed,” it said.

A second person was wounded in what the interior ministry described as a “terrorist act”.

Since fighting with pro-Russian separatists broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, the number of incidents involving explosives outside the conflict zone has increased, but car bombs are relatively rare. 



In July 2016 a prominent investigative journalist, Pavel Sheremet, was killed in Kiev when an explosive device detonated in his car.
Ukrainian intelligence officer and head of a special forces unit, Maksym Shapoval, is assassinated in Kiev by car bomb.