An east Ukrainian crime boss and separatist wanted by Kyiv was killed with one other person in a blast at a luxury residential complex in Moscow on Monday, Russian media reported.

Armen Sarkisian, a known mafia boss from east Ukraine who had formed a battalion to fight against Kyiv, is the latest target in a string of explosions on Russian soil.

Russia has been hit by a series of killings and mysterious blasts since launching its offensive in Ukraine in 2022.

Sarkisian has been wanted by Kyiv since 2014 and Ukraine's SBU security service had in December declared him a suspect in "recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine".

"Sarkisian died in hospital after an assassination in Moscow," the TASS news agency reported, after Russian media intially said he was seriously wounded in the blast.

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