Russian dignitary injured after artillery attack

 

 

Russia's invasion of Ukraine  

Russian dignitary injured in attack - details of deaths  

 

Of:  

 

Hans Österman 

 

Published: Today 01.50  

 

Updated: Today 07.58 

 

NEWS  

 

The Russian high-ranking Dmitry Rogozin was injured on Wednesday in an artillery attack in eastern Ukraine. 

 

He has been taken to hospital but the injuries are not life-threatening, according to state-controlled media. 

 

Dmitry Rogozin, 59, was until this summer head of the Russian space industry Roscosmos and has previously been both deputy prime minister and Russian NATO ambassador. 

 

On Wednesday evening, he was injured in a Ukrainian artillery attack on the outskirts of Donetsk,state the regime-loyal Russian news agencies Ria and Tass.

 

According to Ria, Rogozin has been taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was in a hotel where he and other military advisers had been staying for the past few months, Ria said.  

 

Paw: Two died  

 

According to Telegram-channel Baza, Rogozin was celebrating his birthday in the hotel's restaurant and received shrapnel injuries to his head, buttocks and one thigh. Baza also states that two people were killed in the attack and that another five were injured. Tass also writes that two people died in the bombing.

 

Rogozin and Putin during a trip in the presidential plane in September 2021. Photo: AP  

 

According to Nexta , Rogozin confirms to Russian media that he was injured:  

 

- I will survive. The splinter hit a centimeter from the spine.  

 

Tass also quotes Rogozin's assistant who states that the attack was "clearly aimed" at the hotel and points to a French weapons system. 

 

- Experts are inclined to believe that a 155-millimeter artillery shell of the brand Caesar, developed and manufactured by the French company Nexter, was used in the attack, says the assistant in the article.  

 

In addition to Rogozin, Russian media name Vitaly Khotsenko, prime minister of the Russian occupation regime in Donetsk, as one of the injured.  

 

Described as Putin's favorite  

 

Rogozin was Director General of Roscosmos since 2018 when he was replaced by the Kremlin this summer. Has been one of the most ardent supporters of the war in Ukraina and has become known for his harsh rhetoric towards the West.  

 

The independent Russian news site Meduza has described Rogozin as one of Putin's favorites and said in July that he was in the running for a new job in the occupied territories of Ukraine. 

 

In November, Ria wrote that Rogozin formed an advisory group calling itself "The Tsar's Wolves" and which will provide "military-technical support" to the forces in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.