Editing Alexander Zakharchenko (section)

== Death ==
Zakharchenko was assassinated by a bombing in the café "Separ" in Donetsk, on 31 August 2018. Preliminary reports say DNR's finance minister Alexander Timofeyev was wounded in the blast as well. The Security Service of Ukraine suggests that Russia may be involved in the assassination. The DNR and Russia blame the Ukrainian authorities; officials in Kiev reject these accusations, stating that Zakharchenko's death was the result of civil strife in the DNR. Initial reports say that Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Trapeznikov was appointed acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

Funeral and memorial services were scheduled for 2 September, in the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. A 3-day mourning period was declared on 1 September, with the start of the new academic year in the territory being postponed until 4 September. The ceremony was attended by South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov, head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov and Russian lawmaker Natalya Poklonskaya.

=== Reactions ===
Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] sent his condolences to Zakharchenko's family, calling his death a "contemptible murder", blaming the hawks within the Ukrainian government for the murder. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson Maria Zakharova blamed Ukraine for the assassination, claiming that it is "driving its country to the verge of an all-out disaster at increasingly faster speeds." Residents of the Republic of Crimea honored the memory of Zakharchenko by laying flowers by his portraits in the central square of their capital, Simferopol.
The acting head of the Luhansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, paid tribute to Zakharchenko at a memorial service in the Republic, saying that the "banner of struggle, lifted by Alexander Zakharchenko, will never fall". He also said that the Republic of Donbass "will not forgive Zakharchenko’s murder".
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
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