**Former Russian-Occupied Prison Chief Killed in Car Blast**
A former head of a notorious prison in Russian-occupied Ukraine has been killed in a car blast. Sergei Yevsyukov, 49, was chief of the Olenivka Prison when dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war died in a missile strike last July.
**Attack Details**
Yevsyukov’s car was targeted with an explosive device planted under it. One report says the explosion was equivalent to about 100g of TNT. The attack happened near the city center in Donetsk, Ukraine.
**Denials and Investigations**
Russia blamed Ukraine for the attack, but Ukraine said Russia had targeted the prison to destroy evidence of torture and other war crimes committed there. Russian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the incident, but they did not confirm Yevsyukov’s identity as one of the victims. Two local residents were reported injured in the blast.
**Previous Attacks**
Yevsyukov’s killing is seen as part of a string of targeted attacks by Ukraine on Russian officers and pro-Kremlin figures in occupied Ukrainian territory. In November, a senior naval officer was killed in Crimea, and in October, a car bomb attack killed an official at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
**Background**
Donetsk city and parts of eastern Ukraine have been partially controlled by Moscow since 2014. The region has seen some of the fiercest fighting during the war.