Russia-Ukraine war: Top official Rogozin wounded in Ukrainian shelling

A well-known figure who ran Russia's space agency and was deputy prime minister has said he was wounded in an Ukrainian attack on a hotel.

Dmitry Rogozin said he was hit near the shoulder blade in Donetsk city, in Russian-controlled eastern Ukraine.

The head of Russia's proxy authority in Donetsk was also hurt while another man was reportedly killed.

Elsewhere, in southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities said a car bomb killed a local official.

Ukrainian forces were blamed for the attack on Andrei Shtepa in a village on the left bank of the River Dnipro in Kherson region.

Russia retreated from the right bank in November, but continues to occupy the rest of the southern region. Kherson was one of four Ukrainian regions that Vladimir Putin declared part of Russia, despite failing to control any of them fully.

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 southern outskirts of Donetsk. An aide told Russian media the hotel had been targeted by precision-guided munitions, probably fired by a French-made howitzer.

"It was a business meeting with a close circle of associates after returning from one of the volunteer units," he 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 later posted that he had a piece of metal embedded above his right shoulder blade.

"There will have to be an operation. Several people close to me were also hit," he said.

Mr Rogozin is widely known for his anti-Western rhetoric and his support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He turned 59 on Wednesday, but denied reports that he was celebrating his birthday at the time.

He was replaced as Roscosmos space agency chief in the summer, following suggestions that the Kremlin would give him a key role in Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine. Instead, he appears to lead a volunteer unit called Tsar's Wolves that provides support to Russia's proxy forces in the east.

Since 2014, Donetsk has been controlled by Russia's proxy authorities, who have repeatedly accused Ukrainian forces of targeting the city.

Russia's armed forces chief, Gen Valery Gerasimov, said on Thursday that the main focus was now to take over the entire Donetsk region. Although they have seized southern parts of the area since the February invasion, the front line has barely moved beyond Donetsk city.