The assassination of Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, was committed with the help of western intelligence services, the republic’s acting head said.
One person has been detained as part of an investigation into the murder of Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin said on Saturday.
According to Pushilin, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was involved in the assassination. DPR investigators analyzed the remains of the explosive device that killed Zakharchenko and identified technology that hadn’t previously been used by SBU, he said.
“This gives us an understanding that the terrorist attack was committed with the assistance of Western intelligence services,” he added.
Zakharchenko was killed by an explosion in a cafe in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in late August. Zakharchenko had headed the DPR since November 2014, when a crisis broke out in Ukraine following a coup d’etat that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.
The assassination of Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, was committed with the help of Western intelligence services, the acting head of the Republic said.
