A well-known Russian official who ran the country's space agency and was deputy prime minister said that he was wounded in an Ukrainian attack on a hotel, it was reported. Dmitry Rogozin said, as per BBC, that he was hit near the shoulder blade in Donetsk city, in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.
In the shelling, the head of Russia's proxy authority in Donetsk was also hurt while another man was reportedly killed. the report added as Ukrainian forces were blamed for an attack on Andrei Shtepa in a village in Kherson region.
Dmitry Rogozin said he was wounded on Wednesday evening after someone leaked details that he and others were having dinner at the Shesh-Besh hotel, on the outskirts of Donetsk as his aide told Russian media that the hotel had been targeted by precision-guided munitions, probably fired by a French-made howitzer, the report said.
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"It was a business meeting with a close circle of associates after returning from one of the volunteer units," Dmitry Rogozin posted on social media on Thursday. “We've been staying in this hotel all these months and in eight years, the enemy never shelled this place,” he added, later posting that he had a piece of metal embedded above his right shoulder blade.
{{/usCountry}}"It was a business meeting with a close circle of associates after returning from one of the volunteer units," Dmitry Rogozin posted on social media on Thursday. “We've been staying in this hotel all these months and in eight years, the enemy never shelled this place,” he added, later posting that he had a piece of metal embedded above his right shoulder blade.
{{/usCountry}}"There will have to be an operation. Several people close to me were also hit," he said.
Dmitry Rogozin is widely known for his anti-Western rhetoric and his support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was replaced as Roscosmos space agency chief earlier following reports that the Kremlin would give him a key role in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia's armed forces chief, Gen Valery Gerasimov, said that the main focus was now to take over the entire Donetsk region.