Ukrainian journalist dies in car explosion in Kiev

Investigators inspect a damaged car at the site where journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed by a car bomb in central Kiev, Ukraine, July 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

KIEV - A well-known Ukrainian journalist working for the online investigative newspaper Ukrainska Pravda was killed on Wednesday morning in a car explosion in central Kiev.

The newspaper said in a statement that Pavel Sheremet was killed while driving to work when an explosive device planted inside his vehicle went off at about 7:45 am local time (GMT 0545).

According to the statement, the car belonged to Alyona Pritula, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper. She was not in the vehicle at the time of the blast.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, told local television that Sheremet's death could be related to his work.

The 44-year-old Sheremet is a Belarus-born journalist and political analyst who worked in Ukraine over the past five years.

Sheremet was also an anchor for the morning show at Radio Vesti.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the country's law enforcement agencies to promptly investigate the journalist's death.