Targeted: Prominent Pro-Kremlin Writer and Blogger Injured in Car Explosions in Russia

Novelist and politician Zakhar Prilepin, who has been sanctioned by several European nations for his support of Russia's war in Ukraine, was wounded in a car bomb attack in Russia that killed his driver. He is the third pro-war figure to be targeted by a bomb since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Prilepin was once praised by literary critics in the West before he put his pen and his gun to the service of the Kremlin in Ukraine. He has compared himself with two giants of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy and Mikhail Lermontov, both of whom fought as soldiers before turning to writing.