Ukraine braces for intensified attacks after Moscow car bomb killing

Ukraine is bracing itself for an intensification of Russian missile attacks to coincide with its independence day on Wednesday in the aftermath of the car-bomb killing of the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue.

Tensions between the two warring countries were at risk of heightening further after the killing of Darya Dugina, whose father is the Russian political commentator Alexander Dugin, on the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday night.

Ilya Ponomarev claimed the deadly explosion was the work of the National Republican Army, which he said was an underground group working inside Russia dedicated to overthrowing the Putin regime.

The blast occurred shortly after Dugina left the Tradition cultural festival at an estate where her father had given a lecture. The two were expected to leave together, but instead got into different cars, a friend said.

Five minutes later, a bomb exploded in the car Dugina was driving, killing her instantly. Witnesses said debris was thrown all over the road as the car was engulfed in flames before crashing into a fence.

Andrey Krasnov, a friend of Dugina and the head of the Russian Horizon social movement, confirmed the reports, according to the news agency Tass. He said the bomb could have been intended for her father.

However, the independent Russian news agency Agentstvo reported that leaked government databases showed the car was registered to Darya, not her father. Footage on social media appeared to show him at the scene in a state of distress.