Russia hit by second car bomb in as many days as peace talks continue

A car bomb in Moscow has injured a former adviser to Ukraine's pro-Putin ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, Russia's Investigative Committee says. Sergei Zavorotny was behind the wheel when the explosion happened on Friday morning. He was taken to hospital, investigators added.

Zavorotny had been an aide to Azarov until the prime minister resigned in 2014 and fled to Russia. The car bomb went off a day after a similar explosion killed a Russian colonel in Saint Petersburg. It comes against a backdrop of peace talks in Dublin aimed at ending the war, although strikes by both Russia and Ukraine continued overnight.

"Serhiy Zavorotny, a former adviser to the former Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov, who was driving a car, was injured. He was taken to one of the city hospitals, where he is receiving medical care," a statement from the committee said on Telegram. "A set of necessary investigative actions is being carried out.