Former Russian MP says wounded by drone attack in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine: A drone attack near Kyiv injured former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov, he said on Thursday, posting pictures of his bloodied face.

Ponomaryov, 48, fled to Ukraine and gained citizenship after opposing Moscow´s annexation of Crimea.

Ponomaryov said that he was hurt by an overnight drone attack on his house near Kyiv.

“This thing blew in very forcefully, right in front of the threshold of the house, and loads of shrapnel flew into me,” Ponomaryov wrote on Facebook.

He said that the attack happened at night after the all-clear had sounded and that he did not hear air defences firing at the drone.

He posted photos showing fragments of a Russian Shahed drone, trees cut by an attack and a crater in a paved area.

“My guards ran up and put out the fire quickly but there was a lot of blood and I had to go to hospital very quickly,” he said.

He said that he was around five metres “from death” and that the attack came after drones were downed near the house on Tuesday night, blowing out several windows.

Ukraine´s National Police said a drone attack on Thursday morning in the Kyiv region wounded a man and his wife, who were hospitalised, and damaged two private houses.