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Two dead, nine injured in Donetsk blast — official

Alexander Zakharchenko, who had been Prime Minister of the DPR since 2014, died in an explosion in downtown Donetsk on Friday

MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Two people were killed and nine injured in Friday’s blast in downtown Donetsk that left the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, dead, a spokesman for the DPR operational command said.

"Two people died and nine were injured, six of them were hospitalized," Eduard Basurin said in a Rossiya 1 TV channel broadcast. "The information is still being verified, because the injured were rushed to different hospitals."

He said the injured were mostly diagnosed with burns and incise wounds inflicted by glass splinters and other similar objects.

Basurin said that the condition of the self-proclaimed republic’s minister of taxes and duties, Alexander Timofeyev, has stabilized.

"I spoke with the head physician of his hospital, and he told me that Timofeyev's condition has stabilized and his life is out of danger now. However, two people are in critical condition," he said.

Alexander Zakharchenko, who had been Prime Minister of the DPR since 2014, died in an explosion in downtown Donetsk on Friday. He was 42 years old. DPR Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Trapeznikov was appointed interim head of DPR.

Trapeznikov said the republic's law enforcement agencies had detained several suspects in the blast.

"Several people have been detained. During the questioning, they confirmed the Ukrainian side’s involvement in this crime," Trapeznikov was quoted as saying by the Donetsk News Agency.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) earlier denied any role in the blast.

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