The investigation’s preliminary findings indicate that a Toyota Camry with Georgian license plates was blown up in central Kyiv on Sept. 8 evening by means of a planted explosive device, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and severely injured his wife; the third passenger, a child, was not harmed, Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesperson Artem Shevchenko said.

Axar.az reports citing Kyiv Post.

“There were three people in the car, namely a man, who died, a woman who sustained serious injuries, with medical specialists struggling to save her life, and a child, who survived the incident and whose life is not in danger,” Shevchenko said at a news briefing on Friday evening.

A criminal case has been opened into the incident on charges of “premeditated murder committed using a publicly dangerous method,” he said.

“Preliminary findings indicate that an explosive device planted in the car went off. The victim is a citizen of another state, he is a citizen of Georgia, and his identity has been determined,” Shevchenko said. “This is an individual known quite well in the criminal world, and his name is Timur Makhauri. He is a citizen of Georgia, and he had firm connections with various Chechen circles,” he said.

Shevchenko said the woman who was in the car was preliminarily identified as Makhauri’s wife. He acknowledged, though, that certain inquiries taking some time have to be conducted to certainly establish the relations between the man killed in the blast, the injured woman and the child.

Shevchenko said the attack was targeted precisely against Makhauri.

Timur Makhauri, a member of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion who fought in eastern Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion near the Besarabsky Market in central Kyiv on Sept. 8, several people who knew Makhauri said in an interview shown earlier by the 112.Ukraine TV channel from the scene of the incident.