A colonel at the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's chief intelligence directorate was killed in a car bomb explosion in Kyiv on June 27, news reports said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the murder of Maksym Shapoval, who was driving the vehicle.

The Mercedes car exploded at the crossroads of the capital's Solomianska and Oleksiyivska streets. Two passers-by were injured by the blast, according to Ukranian law enforcement agencies.

The ministry confirmed that Shapoval was killed as a result of the explosion. While the statement said only that he was an officer of the Chief Intelligence Directorate, local media reported that he headed the directorate’s Special Reserve Department.

“National police officers, rescuers, bomb disposal experts and criminologists are working at the scene of the incident, which has been qualified as a terrorist act,” the ministry said. “Measures are being taken to establish all circumstances of the tragedy.”

Ukraine was hit by a wave of serious street incidents in recent weeks. Five days ago, another car was hit by a bomb in downtown Kyiv, but no one was seriously hurt by the blast.

On June 8, the territory of the US embassy in Kyiv suffered an explosion of a small explosive device, also without any injuries or serious damage. On May 30, the former acting director of the state-owned spirits conglomerate Ukrspyrt Viktor Pankov was shot dead in Kyiv. Two days later, Chechen-born military commander Adam Osmayev survived a shootout in the capital.

Experts says that an enormous illegal arms market operates across Ukraine, creating additional risks of instability in the war-torn former Soviet republic.