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| Darya Dugina was killed after a suspected explosive device detonated on the Toyota Land Cruiser she was travelling in CREDIT: East2west News |
Ukrainian officials denied they had any links to the murder of Darya Durgina, but have still warned of increased Russian attacks around Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24, which also marks six months since the start of the war.
"We should be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel. Such is our enemy," Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's president, said in his regular video address.
Ms Dugina was killed as she drove back to central Moscow in a Toyota Land Cruiser from a literary and arts festival on the outskirts of the city where her father, the prominent ultra-nationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, had been speaking.
It is likely that Mr Dugin, who has been called "Putin’s brain" and has been close to the Kremlin, was the intended target. He was supposed to drive into Moscow with his daughter, but decided at the last minute to travel back in another car.
A video shot immediately after the bomb had exploded showed Mr Dugin holding his hands to his head in shock as he stares at the burning wreck. Rubble is strewn across the road.
Russian investigators said that Ms Dugina, 29, had died immediately "from an explosive device which had been placed under the bottom of the car on the driver’s side"”.
Ms Dugina was a journalist who had shot to prominence since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. She had reported from Mariupol in southern Ukraine, where Ukrainian soldiers in the city’s steelworks had fought off Russian attacks for weeks.
She was also a regular on trips organised by the Russian government to rebel-held Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
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| Alexander Dugin encouraged the Kremlin to 'kill, kill, kill' Ukrainians after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 CREDIT: Francesca Ebel |
Ms Dugina was a vocal supporter of her father, who is perhaps the most prominent ultra-nationalist thinker in Russia. He advocates the Kremlin’s rule over a greater Eurasian state, and has called for the destruction of Ukraine.
After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Mr Dugin had encouraged the Kremlin to "kill, kill, kill" Ukrainians, and he celebrated Mr Putin’s full-scale invasion in February.
Analysts have questioned how influential Mr Dugin has been over the Kremlin's aggressive foreign policy, but he is nevertheless an important figurehead for hardcore Slavic nationalism.
Echoing her father’s aggressive tones during her appearances on Russian state TV, Ms Dugina also regularly advocated the destruction of Ukraine.
(credit: telegraph)
