April 2, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

No official evidence has yet been presented about who carried out the deadly attack at a St. Petersburg cafe Sunday, but officials in both Russia and Ukraine have already suggested they know who was behind the attack.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said it was an example of growing threats against Russian journalists on the part of the Ukrainian government. She claimed Russians face "threats of reprisal from the Kyiv regime."

Zakharova decried Western countries and international organizations, who she said had not expressed "elementary human sympathy" since Tatarsky's death. And she said the blogger had provided invaluable information about what was happening in Ukraine, making him "dangerous" and "hated" in Kyiv.

(Zakharova's claims come days after American journalist Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on espionage charges, which the US and his employer — the Wall Street Journal — have dismissed as false.)

A Ukrainian presidential official, meanwhile, suggested the killing was due to in-fighting in Russia.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, wrote on Twitter: “Spiders are eating each other in a jar. Question of when domestic terrorism would become an instrument of internal political fight was a matter of time.”

Russian state media and independent outlets have described what they say are witness accounts from the explosion in St. Petersburg that killed prominent Russian military blogger Vladlen Tartarsky.

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said a guest told the outlet a woman presented Tatarsky with a figurine before the blast

“The host at the stage took the figurine from the box and showcased it, Vladlen held it for a bit. They put it back and shortly after the explosion happened … I was running and my ears were blocked. There were many people with blood on them."

The independent Telegram channel Astra Press cited another witness describing the scene after the explosion.

“Everyone rushed to the exit when explosion happened. I myself saw the girl only until the moment of the explosion, when she gave a gift. She looked like an ordinary person," the witness told the channel, according to its post.

Another witness interviewed by the independent Telegram channel SOTA said that everyone had looked at the figurine and laughed.

“Some time passed and the explosion happened," they said, according to SOTA. "We (sat) in the further away part of the hall, we all ran."

"The woman sat by the window. Some people said that she left the building,” the witness added.

The group that was hosting an event at a St. Petersburg cafe when a deadly explosion rocked the venue Sunday have said they will work with investigators trying to find the person or people responsible.

The organization, a pro-war Telegram society called the "Cyber Front Z" movement, also shared condolences in an online post after the blast. 

"Separate condolences to everyone who knew the wonderful war correspondent and our good friend Vladlen Tatarsky. Now we are cooperating with law enforcement agencies and we hope that all those responsible will be punished," the post reads. 

"Unfortunately, we can't tell you more yet," it added.

The explosive that detonated in a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky on Sunday, may have been hidden in a figurine that was presented to the blogger, according to Russian state news media.

State media cited law enforcement agencies and eyewitness accounts, but Russian authorities have not yet commented on the reports and CNN is not able to independently verify the claim. 

Russian state news outlets are reporting, quoting law enforcement agencies, that a woman brought the explosive that caused the blast into the cafe. According to the reports, she had the figurine packed in a box when she entered.

Other independent media outlets are quoting similar eyewitness accounts.

Russian state news agency TASS said law enforcement described the explosive used in the attack as about the size of a bar of soap.

A well-known Russian military blogger, Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, authorities said.

There are several prominent bloggers like Tatarsky who cover Russia's war in Ukraine for followers on online platforms like Telegram. Some have amassed followings of hundreds of thousands of people.

While Tatarsky was ardently pro-war, he also issued criticism of setbacks in Moscow's campaign — a fairly rare phenomenon in the Russian public sphere.

Background and combat experience: Tatarsky's real name was Maxim Fomin.

In 2014, Tatarsky took part in fighting alongside Russian forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, according to Russian state news agency Vesti, citing public sources, when Putin’s fighters first invaded the country.

Tatarsky created his Telegram channel in 2019, naming it in honor of the protagonist of Victor Pelevin’s novel “Generation ‘P,’” according to Vesti. He went on to write several books.

Tatarsky supported the war in Ukraine. He gained popularity online by providing analysis and commentary during Russia's invasion.

Rare criticism: Tatarsky had more than half a million followers on Telegram, and while he was aggressively pro-war, he was sometimes critical of Russian setbacks in Ukraine.

Public criticism of Moscow's war is uncommon in Russia.

In May last year, he told CNN that he was not criticizing the overall operation, rather “individual episodes,” and that he still believed Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, he called for broad change in response to the halting progress of Moscow's invasion.

“All the areas need to be improved,” he said. “Each war reveals some drawbacks, shortcomings, or false experiences, experiences that need to be adjusted to the modern realities. So absolutely all spheres need reform."

Tatarsky gained prominence after attending a Kremlin ceremony that marked the annexation of four Ukrainian regions (a move dismissed as illegal under international law by Ukraine and Western allies).

Local officials updated the number of those wounded by an explosion at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, saying 25 people were hurt and 24 of them have been hospitalized.

The city's governor, Alexander Beglov, shared the update in a Telegram post Sunday evening local time. 

"All emergency and special services of the city are currently activated in connection with what happened in a cafe on Vasilyevsky Island," Beglov said, referring to the island that makes up a significant portion of the city center. "We work in coordination with law enforcement agencies. They are trying to establish the circumstances of what happened."

The explosion killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, according to Russian state news agency TASS and local authorities.

One of the country's several prominent online commentators on the war in Ukraine, Tatarsky was at times critical of the Russian military's setbacks in Ukraine.

Of the 25 injured people in the explosion, six are in serious condition, the press service of the Russian Ministry of Health told reporters on Sunday, TASS reported. At least one teenager is among the wounded.

Everyone who was in the cafe at the time of the explosion that killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky is being questioned by authorities, according to state news agency TASS. 

Authorities are trying to establish who may have carried the explosive device into the St. Petersburg cafe before it detonated Sunday, the state news agency reported.

St. Petersburg police were notified about the explosion at the cafe at 6:13 pm local time (11:13 a.m. ET), according to TASS. Traffic in the area has since been blocked off. 

Russia's Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg has opened a criminal case, the committee said in a statement Sunday. 

Investigators and forensic specialists are working at the scene, according to the committee.

Russia's Interior Ministry also sent officials to the scene.

An explosion killed Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky at a cafe in St. Petersburg on Sunday, according to Russian state news agency TASS and local authorities.

Nineteen other people were injured in the blast, Russia's Investigative Committee for St. Petersburg said in a statement.

An explosive device detonated at a cafe in the center of the city, according to officials, and TASS reported the blast caused part of the building's facade to collapse.

Authorities are investigating the explosion and have opened a criminal case, the committee said.

Who was Tatarsky? One of Russia's various prominent military bloggers, Tatarsky was at-times critical of the Russian military's setbacks in Ukraine.

Bloggers covering Russia's war share reports and commentary on the invasion for subscribers on online platforms like Telegram, where some have amassed followings of hundreds of thousands of people.

Public criticism of Moscow's war is rare in Russia.

In May last year, Tatarsky told CNN he was not criticizing the entirety of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine but “individual episodes.”

Tatarsky said he still believed Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine, but that it would require broad change.

CNN's Tim Lister and Taras Zadorozhnyy contributed to this report.

Sunday marks the first anniversary for Ukraine's Kyiv region of expelling Russian forces from its various cities and towns, officials there said in a Telegram post.

The Kyiv region, surrounding Ukraine's capital city, was one of the first areas to take the brunt of Russia's invasion in 2022.

"The enemy was coming to the Ukrainian capital from the north, bringing death and destruction," the Kyiv region's military administration said. 

Fighting lasted more than a month, and fifteen communities across several districts in the region were occupied by Russian forces.

"The liberation of Kyiv Region became a symbol that Ukraine will be able to win this war," the regional administration said.

"We liberated the north of the country - let's liberate all of Ukraine," it added. 

More background: Kyiv region has seen some of the worst atrocities committed by Russian forces since the start of the war. The town of Bucha, which was under Russian occupation for 33 days, has become a symbol of the most horrific crimes committed against the civilian population.

More than 1,400 deaths, including 37 children, have been documented in Bucha, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday, when the town marked its own liberation from Russian occupation last year.

"We will never forgive. We will punish every perpetrator," he said.