Ukrainian news reports say the father of a murder victim detonated two grenades in the courtroom where his son's alleged killers were being tried, killing himself and one of the defendants.

The Thursday blasts in Nikopol, about 450 kilometers (270 miles) south of Kiev, also wounded seven other people, the reports said.

The RIA Novosti news agency cited Interior Ministry official Zoryan Shkiryak as saying the courtroom was not equipped with electronic metal detectors and that the father appeared to have secreted the grenades on his person in a way that concealed them during a physical pat-down.