Russian opposition activist Ilya Ponomaryov claims assassination attempt on day of biggest prisoner swap with Russian Federation
Ilya Ponomarev has already published a photo of himself in the hospital, and he promised to give more detailed information on his social networks later. He considers today to be his second birthday
A number of Russian opposition politicians may have the same "second birthday" today. However, about everything in order.
The National Police of Ukraine has written about the night arrival of a kamikaze drone at a private house in the Kiev region. According to the agency, a married couple was injured and taken to a Kyiv hospital, which suggests that these events are connected.
Before that, on the night of 31 July, three drones flew into the territory of Ponomarev's plot. They were shot down by air defence and the wreckage fell 50-100 metres from the house. Most likely, it was the Russian oppositionist who was the target of the attacks by the Shahedin. On his social media account he wrote:
'The fifth attempt of the attack was the most unconventional and the most successful, which was difficult to defend against.
It is known that Ilya Ponomarev lives in Kiev, he is a former member of the Russian State Duma who has condemned Russia's aggression. Ponomarev calls himself the coordinator of the political centre of the Legion of Free Russia.
We will remind, the Russian FSB in February this year initiated several criminal cases against Ponomarev - on state treason in the form of switching to the side of the enemy, participation in a terrorist organisation and public calls for terror.
Ponomarev left Russia in 2014. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ponomarev has advocated funding for the AFU and terrorist acts in Russia as a way to overthrow Vladimir Putin's regime.
What's interesting is that today could have seen the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
An An-148 aircraft with the flight number RA-61727, which had earlier landed in Kaliningrad, flew back to Moscow. This aircraft was used in the exchange of arms baron Viktor Bout, drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko and Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko.
On the eve of the TV channel N1, CNN's partner in Slovenia, reported that the exchange between Russia, the United States, Germany and Belarus could take place in the coming hours.
According to the channel, among the participants of the exchange there is a German citizen Rico Krieger, sentenced to death in Belarus and pardoned by Lukashenko. He should be exchanged for Vadim Krasikov - an alleged FSB officer, convicted in Germany for the murder of Chechen warlord Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
In recent days, seven political prisoners have been transferred to unknown destinations in Russia, while the whereabouts of three others are unknown. Earlier, Ilya Yashin, ex-coordinators of Navalny's headquarters in Tomsk and Ufa Ksenia Fadeeva and Lilia Chanysheva, human rights defender Oleg Orlov, artists Alexandra Skochilenko and Daniil Krinari, Kevin Lik and Vladimir Kara-Murza were taken out of colonies and pre-trial detention centres.
Human rights defender Eva Merkacheva suggested that they might be prepared for exchange.