ONE of Vladimir Putin’s puppet politicians narrowly avoided death after his car exploded inside Ukraine in a suspected assassination bid.
Dramatic footage shows the car engulfed in a raging fireball on the side of a motorway after he made a desperate escape.
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Denis Kharitonov, 44, said he grabbed his ID and fled from the vehicle moments before it burst into flames.
Kharitonov, a Kremlin MP, had volunteered to fight in Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine before the dangerous explosion.
He claimed the fire was an attempt on his life caused by a bomb, but that he had walked away unscathed.
The impressive hit is thought to be Ukraine’s latest assassination bid against a Russian top brass.
Incredible images showed the burnt out husk of his car after the flames had died down.
The wrecked vehicle was a Chinese-made motor which he was using for military duties in a nearby combat zone, it is believed.
It is not clear exactly where the explosion hit in occupied Ukraine.
Kharitonov was driving to deliver the belongings and documents of a seriously wounded Russian soldier, he claimed.
“I use my own car to carry out duties in the zone of the special military operation,” he wrote on Telegram after the incident.
“Today, while performing another duty, [the vehicle] exploded and burned to the ground.”
The politician had applied for the Baikal detachment of the 7th sabotage and reconnaissance assault brigade St George company.
It is still unclear whether a car bomb or a drone strike is suspected.
“Thank God, it didn’t burn out right away and I managed to save documents and personal belongings,” Kharitonov said.
He claimed that a criminal investigation is looking into the explosion.
Ukraine has claimed to have killed more than a dozen high profile Russian generals during the more than two years of war – many inside occupied territory.
Kyiv also claimed responsibility for the killing of Mikhail Filiponenko, a pro-Russian politician in occupied Ukraine.
Other high profile figures have been targeted in the last two years – with Moscow often pointing the finger at Ukraine.
One Russian commander, Major Oleg Stegachyov, was shot near his home in February in what was believed to be an attempt on his life.
He survived and Russia dubbed the shooting a “terrorist act”.
Kyiv intelligence sources said he “was directly involved in missile attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine and the killing of our people”.
Top Russian generals killed in Ukraine
ANDREI SUKHOVETSKY – Died March 2022 in Kyiv when he was shot by a sniper.
VLADIMIR FROLOV – Died April 2022 under mysterious circumstances
ANDREI SIMONOV – Died April 2022 in a suspected Ukrainian strike in Kharkiv
KANAMAT BOTASHEV – Died May 2022 in Luhansk when the jet he was travelling in was shot down by a missile
ROMAN KUTUZOV – Died June 2022 near Luhansk, cause of death unknown
SERGEY GORYACHEV – Died June 2023 in a missile strike in Zaporizhzhia during Ukraine’s counteroffensive
OLEG TSOKOV – Died July 2023 in a missile strike in Zaporizhzhia
VLADIMIR ZAVADSKY – Died November 2023 possibly in Kherson after triggering a mine explosion
ALEXANDER TATARENKO – Died January 2024 in a Storm Shadow strike in Crimea
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