Grenade attack at a barber’s in occupied Ukraine leaves top Putin-appointed policeman wounded
A top police officer appointed by Vladimir Putin was reportedly seriously injured in a grenade attack on a barbershop in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region.
Major General Igor Kornet, 50, was one of three hospitalized in serious condition after a massive explosion, which reportedly also killed an unnamed civilian.
Unconfirmed reports said Kornet had died, but local officials insisted he was alive.
Kornet is acting interior minister in the Luhansk People’s Republic, which has been annexed by the Russian president and claims to be part of Russia. He is also said to be a friend of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group.
The bomb came after Luhansk was targeted by British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles in an unrelated Ukrainian strike earlier today.
Major General Igor Kornet (pictured), 50, was one of three hospitalized in serious condition after a massive explosion, which reportedly also killed an unnamed civilian
The top police officer appointed by Putin in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region was seriously injured by a bomb in a barbershop today. Pictured: The inside of the barber shop is seen in the aftermath of the explosion that reportedly injured a number of people
Pictured: The interior of the barber shop is seen in an online post before the attack
The bomb exploded in The Brothers barber shop in the center of Luhansk.
The location is next to the local TV and radio station and it is suspected that Kornet was the target of a grenade thrown into the barber shop at 78 Demkina Street.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, five people are injured, three in critical condition.
Kornet is seen as close to Wagner mercenary warlord Prigozhin, and the attack could be seen as a warning to Prigozhin, who has become increasingly outspoken to Kremlin defense officials in recent weeks.
Leading military blogger Anatoly Shariy said, “According to my information, Kornet has disappeared [dead]. But officially they report that he was injured.’
This was contradicted by an LPR health official who said, ‘He’s alive. His condition is stable.’
TASS reported: ‘The explosion occurred in a barber shop. “It looks like it was a hand grenade, because the explosion broke the windows and the door.
“Several people were injured.
The area has been cordoned off by the police. Ambulances are on scene.’
The photo and video of the scene showed a bombed-out building with a huge gaping hole in the side. A barber’s chair was seen standing in front of a wall, torn open to the bricks.
Outside, a front yard was covered in rubble, while a pool of blood could also be seen in footage broadcast on Russian television, suggesting someone was seriously injured outside.
If Kornet was killed in the attack, his name would be added to an abnormally long list of senior Russian military personnel killed in attacks.
News of the alleged grenade attack came after Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian aircraft hit two industrial sites in eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles supplied by Britain.
Britain on Thursday was the first country to say it had begun supplying Kiev with long-range cruise missiles that could allow it to hit Russian troops and supply dumps far behind the front lines as it prepares a major counter-offensive.
In the photo: The exterior of the barbershop can be seen today in Luhansk. Debris is scattered across the front yard outside the barbershop, where a pool of blood is out of view
In the photo: the windows of the barber shop can be seen after it was destroyed by an explosion
The bomb exploded at The Brothers barbershop in downtown Luhansk (pictured)
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the missiles could be used on Ukrainian territory, implying he had received assurances from Kiev that they would not be used to strike targets within Russia’s internationally accepted borders.
These exclude Luhanks, Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea.
Putin annexed Crimea in 2014 and claimed to annex the other four in September last year, despite not having full control over any of the four regions at the time.
Ukraine is now expected to launch a counter-offensive to further push Russia back and liberate more of the eastern territories occupied by Russia.
Kiev has intensified attacks on military targets behind Russian lines, a sign that the country is working to damage Moscow’s weapons stockpile.
The Russian ministry said the Storm-Shadow missiles hit a polymer production plant and a meat processing plant in Luhansk on Friday.
“Storm Shadow air-to-air missiles supplied by Britain to the Kiev regime were used for the attack, contrary to London’s statements that these weapons would not be used against civilian targets,” the ministry said.
It also said Russia had downed two Ukrainian fighter jets – a Su-24 and a MiG-29 – that had launched the missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Russia considered Britain’s decision to supply the missiles “extremely negative.”
“Britain claims to be at the forefront of countries continuing to pump weapons into Ukraine,” he told reporters in a daily appeal.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defense ministry said for the first time on Monday that it had downed a long-range storm shadow missile.
The ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict in Ukraine that it had shot down the cruise missile, as well as US-built HIMARS launchers and shorter-range HARM missiles. MailOnline was unable to verify the reports.
When news of Kornet’s possible assassination came to light, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group labeled reports claiming he had offered information about Russian troop positions to Ukraine as “ridiculous” and the result of a possible smear campaign.
Prigozhin has in recent days sharpened his rhetoric against the Russian Defense Ministry by publishing scathing videos about Moscow’s generals.
Wagner fighters have led Moscow’s battle for the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, and Prigozhin’s influence has skyrocketed since Moscow’s offensive.
The Washington Post published a story on Sunday based on unverified US intelligence leaks about Prigozhin interacting with Ukrainian intelligence in January.
According to US documents, the paper said, Prigozhin had offered Kiev information about the positions of the Russian army in exchange for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from areas near Bakhmut.
Prigozhin laughed off the report in an audio message on Telegram.
‘Reading this is of course nice. It means that I am not only fighting for Russia, but Zelensky is also carrying out my orders,” Prigozhin said. “This is laughable.”
Kornet is seen close to the head of Wagner mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, (pictured) and the attack can be seen as a warning to Prigozhin
He said that “people from Rublevka” – a luxurious suburb of Moscow where the Russian elite live – could be behind the allegations.
“Of course they will pour out as much as they can on me,” he said.
Last week, Prigozhin accused Moscow’s conventional army of “fleeing” positions around Bakhmut. He has repeatedly claimed that the Russian Defense Ministry refused to supply ammunition to its soldiers.
Some analysts have suggested that he has crossed a line with his comments in recent weeks and that he is being threatened with retaliation by Putin.