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Dmitry Rogozin, the former head of Russia's space agency, was reportedly wounded in shelling in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region on Wednesday, causing shrapnel to be lodged in his spine.
The former Russian deputy prime minister under President Vladimir Putin and ex-director of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, said on his Telegram channel that "someone leaked information" about the location where was staying in the city of Donetsk.
"Several high-precision hits occurred around 19:45, including the direct place we were in," Rogozin wrote.
Rogozin's representative said he was taken to the hospital with a back wound, and that shrapnel was lodged in his spine.
"Dmitry Rogozin assesses his condition as satisfactory...according to the conclusion of the doctors, a fragment of a mortal shell that got into the spine cannot be removed," his assistant told Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
The aide said Rogozin's injuries are non-life-threatening and claimed the hotel had been targeted by precision-guided munitions.
"Evidently, it was a targeted strike," he said.
Two people were killed and several more were injured in the attack, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
Vitaly Khotsenko, the Russian-installed head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), was also reportedly wounded in the shelling. His press service said he has since returned to work.
Rogozin suggested on Thursday that someone had leaked details of his location prior to the attack.
"It was a business meeting with a close circle of associates after returning from one of the volunteer units," he wrote on his Telegram channel. "We've been staying in this hotel all these months and in eight years the enemy never shelled this place."
Rogozin said a "3x4 mm metal splinter" entered his right shoulder blade, adding that he is expected to undergo surgery.
The 59-year-old, notable for his incendiary statements amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, was dismissed as the head of Roscosmos in July. He had held the position since 2018.
The Kremlin did not provide a reason for Rogozin's dismissal, stating only that he would be replaced as director general of Roscosmos by Yuri Borisov, the former deputy prime minister.
Rogozin has held positions within the Russian government for decades, including three committee chairman roles between 1997 and 2007, according to Russia's Roscongress development institution.
He later became Russia's NATO representative and, in 2011, became deputy prime minister in charge of the defense industry under Putin.
After his dismissal from Russia's space agency, Rogozin said that he heads a group of military advisers called "Tsar's Wolves" which is involved in providing "military-technical support" to the combat units of the self-proclaimed DPR and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) participating in Putin's Ukraine war.
"The group is currently time is actively working...under my direct supervision. We operate here as a volunteer unit," Rogozin said last month.
Rogozin said Thursday that an investigation would be carried out to determine who leaked the details of his location, and who was behind the attack.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more