Russia intelligence officer injured in Moscow car bomb blast

A Russian military intelligence officer is said to have been seriously injured after his car exploded in northwest Moscow.

Footage published by Russian state media showed what appeared to be a Toyota Land Cruiser with its left side completely torn off in the parking lot of a complex of high-rise buildings.

The officer in the GRU, Russia’s main intelligence directorate, is reportedly the deputy head of a military unit based in the Russian capital, and is in critical condition, according to preliminary accounts on the Telegram messenger app. It is also believed that his wife was in the car.

But footage published by Kremlin-approved Ria Novosti seemed to show a victim conscious and administering first aid to himself after the explosion.

State media outlet Mash reported that the injuries were caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) under the pedals of the driver’s seat, where the officer had been sitting. They claimed that the bomb went off when the driver started the ignition. Other outlets have claimed that the IED was placed underneath the car.

Russian authorities announced they had opened an investigation into the incident.

“In connection with the incident that occurred on Sinyavinskaya Street in Moscow, as a result of which a car was damaged and its owner and passenger were injured, the investigative bodies of the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the city of Moscow opened a criminal case,” a statement read.

They added that investigators are already at the scene, while a wide cordon has been placed around the parking lot. Residents in the complex have been instructed not to leave their homes.

Graphic footage, which appears to be CCTV discovered by Mash, has been circulated on Telegram showing the moment the vehicle exploded after the intelligence officer gets into the car.

Subsequent footage showed the officer being pulled into an ambulance with cloth covering his lower half.

The motive for the attack is still unclear but Moscow has previously blamed Ukraine without evidence for comparable incidents in the past.

Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack damaged port infrastructure and commercial and residential buildings early on Wednesday, wounding three people in the southern Ukrainian city of Izmail on the River Danube.

The attack damaged several buildings in the port, caused a fire and also damaged three trucks, Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said in a statement.

A five-storey residential building was damaged during the attacks that smashed its windows and stairwells, and ruined a part of its facade, officials said.

Izmail and other ports of the Danube river are important routes for Ukraine to import fuel.

Outside of Ukraine and Russia, Kyiv’s top diplomat Dmytro Kuleba held more than three hours of “deep and concrete” talks with his Chinese counterpart in Guangzhou, southeast China.

It is the first time a Ukrainian official has visited China, a key ally of Russia, since Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.

The talks with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi lasted “longer than planned”, according to one source in Mr Kuleba’s delegation, and will kick off the Kyiv official’s three-day tour of the country.

Mr Wang said the two countries should maintain communication and exchanges, enhance mutual trust and renew friendship, a foreign ministry spokesperson said after the meeting.