Zakharchenko “received injuries incompatible with life as a result of an explosion in the centre of Donetsk”, the separatist administration said in a statement. It added that the blast also injured Alexander Timofeyev, the deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed republic.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the killing a “dastardly” crime aimed at destabilising a fragile regional peace.
“I expect that the organisers and executors of this crime will get the deserved punishment,” he said in a telegram of condolences released by the Kremlin.