Blast kills leader of Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists

The leader of Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has been killed in a blast at a cafe in Donetsk city, the separatist administration said.

Alexander Zakharchenko is reportedly dead. Source: EPA

The leader of the Russia-backed separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region has reportedly been killed in an explosion.

Rebel news agency DAN said the explosion that killed Alexander Zakharchenko, 42, tore through a cafe in the region's principal city.

Zakharchenko was prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, which along with a separatist republic in neighbouring Luhansk has fought Ukrainian forces since 2014.

More than 10,000 people have died in the conflict.

The rebellion in Donetsk and Luhansk arose soon after pro-Russia Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was driven from power amid mass protests in February 2014.

Alexander Zakharchenko was reportedly killed in an explosion. Source: AP

Russian-speakers predominate in those regions, and separatist sentiment skyrocketed.

Encouraged by Russia's annexation of Crimea, which also came after Yanukovych was ousted, rebel leaders initially hoped their regions would be absorbed by Russia as well.

Zakharchenko became prime minister of the DPR in August 2014.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded Zakharchenko as "a true people's leader" and promised residents of Donetsk that "Russia always will be with you."

The cafe in the city of Donetsk that was hit by the explosion, named Separ, was separatist-themed and had camouflage netting hanging from its eaves, recent photographs show.

Denis Pushilin, the speaker of the separatists' parliament, blamed Ukrainian forces for the explosion, calling it "the latest aggression from the Ukrainian side," according to DAN.

A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Security Service, Elena Gitlyanskaya, said the Ukrainian special services didn't have any connection to the blast.