A prominent journalist was killed in a car bombing in Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, on Wednesday, sending shockwaves through the Ukrainian journalist community that was shaped by the gruesome killing of the publication’s founder 16 years ago.
The country’s top online news website Ukrainska Pravda said its journalist Pavel Sheremet died in an explosion early on Wednesday as he got into his car to drive to work to anchor a talk show on a local radio station.
The publication said the car was owned by its founding editor Olena Prytula, who was Sheremet’s partner. Images from the scene showed the charred car stranded in the middle of a cobbled street. The Ukrainian president has ordered protection for Prytula, the Interior Ministry said.
Zoryan Shkiryak, adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said in a Facebook post that an improvised explosive device was planted underneath the car. Shkiryak said the device was either a delayed-action bomb or was remotely operated. It’s believed to have contained up to the equivalent of 600 grams of TNT.
Interior Minister Khatiya Dekanoidze said in televised comments at the scene of the crime that she will personally supervise the investigation.
“We are looking at all theories,” she said, adding that solving the murder is “very important, a matter of honor” for the Kiev police.
Dekanoidze said he expects FBI agents to arrive in Kiev shortly to help investigate the killing and asked Ukrainian politicians not to jump the gun on the theories of why Sheremet was targeted. 
Several Ukrainian politicians earlier on Wednesday suggested that Russia could have been involved in the killing.
Russia’s Novaya Gazeta quoted several friends and family of Sheremet and Prytula as saying that they had complained about being followed.
Ukraine’s media community was deeply affected by the brutal slaying of Ukrainska Pravda founder Heorhiy Gongadze in 2000.

Source ; Arab News