Ilya Ponomarev fled Russia in 2014 amid embezzlement accusations and has been living in Ukraine ever since
Former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev, who is accused of terrorism in his home country, has reportedly been injured after a drone hit his house outside Kiev on Thursday, Ukraine’s Obozrevatel news outlet has reported, publishing what it claimed were photos from the scene.
Ponomarev had been a State Duma MP since 2007 and a member of the left-wing ‘A Just Russia’ party faction until 2013. In 2014, he fled Moscow amid embezzlement accusations and initially moved to the US. He formally stayed a Russian MP until 2016. That year, Ponomarev, who had since become a radical opponent of the Russian government, also received a residence permit in Ukraine.
He had repeatedly claimed to maintain connections to the ‘Freedom of Russia Legion’ and the ‘Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK)’ – two paramilitary groups within the Ukrainian forces that include open neo-Nazis within their ranks. Both groups have officially been designated terrorist organizations in Russia.
In June, Ponomarev openly called for an assassination campaign targeting Russian officials, businessmen and journalists who he claimed were implicated in Moscow’s ongoing military campaign against Kiev.
On Thursday, Obozrevatel reported that a drone had crashed just five meters from the front door of a house on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, where the former lawmaker was residing. It also published images of some wreckage purportedly taken at the scene. The outlet also released a photo of Ponomarev with his face and upper body covered in blood and scratches.
According to the media outlet, the former MP suffered “multiple fragment wounds.” Ponomarev himself commented on the incident on X (formerly Twitter), claiming it was the fifth assassination attempt against him.
The Ukrainian police confirmed that two private houses had been damaged in a drone attack overnight and published photos of a three-story building with a damaged roof, as well as broken windows and doors. The police said two people had been injured in the incident and taken to one of Kiev’s hospitals, but did not mention Ponomarev by name.
The former lawmaker stands accused of stealing 22 million rubles ($257,000) from the Skolkovo research center since 2015, and has been on Russia’s federal wanted list ever since. Last February, the Federal Security Service (FSB) also opened a criminal case against him, accusing him of terrorism and treason. According to the security service, the former MP, who obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2019, has repeatedly called on Russian citizens to join Kiev’s forces and violently seize power in Russia.
