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UPDATE 2: Dmitry Trapeznikov became the acting head of the DPR.

UPDATE 1: The Russian Foreign Ministry has commented on the situation describing it as a terrorist attack. It has added that the Ukrainian government “decided to start a massacre after failing to fulfill their promises on peace.”

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said that it is not linked to the attack and has described it as a result of the internal tensions in the DPR.

The DPR authorities say that Kiev is responsible for the assasination of Zakharchenko.

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Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko has died from wounds received in a terrorist attack in the DPR capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to reports in the Russian media.

According to initial reports, the explosion, which took place in a restaurant, “Separatist”, on August 31 also injured at least 3 persons. The DPR Finance Minister was reportedly among them.

Some sources say that Zakhachenko was not only one killed in the attack. However, no evidence have been provided so far.

The situation is developing.

Over the past few years, the DPR and its neighbor, the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), have been hit by a series of terrorist attacks and assasinations. Most of them have been reportedly carried out by Ukrainian intelligence and its agents. However, some sources say that at least a part of these incidents has been a result of the internal tensions within the DPR and the LPR.

Local sources describe the work of the republic’s security forces as only “sub-optimal” to what is needed.

It’s also important to note that Zakharchenko was one of the persons signing the Minsk II agreements in 2015, which declared a ceasefire between Ukraine and the DPR-LPR forces. Now, when Zakharchenko is dead, Kiev may use this as a justification to further ingore its responsibilities in the framework of the reached agreements.

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