Ukraine Separatist Leader Killed in Bombing in Donetsk Cafe

Alexander Zakharchenko is latest rebel official assassinated
Putin calls killing sign of ‘dangerous gamble’ on escalation

Alexander Zakharchenko speaks during an interview in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on April 8, 2015. — Alexander Zakharchenko speaks during an interview in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on April 8, 2015.
Photographer: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Stepan Kravchenko and Kateryna Chursina

August 31, 2018 at 3:46 PM UTC

Updated on

August 31, 2018 at 5:59 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

The head of one of Ukraine’s two breakaway republics was killed in a bombing, highlighting the persistent tensions in a conflict that’s now in its fourth year.

Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, was the most senior official of the two breakaway regions formed with Russian support after the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. He died after a bomb went off in a cafe Friday afternoon in central Donetsk.