A second Russian drone developer was targeted within a week. Here’s what we know about the car bombing that wounded Vladimir Tkachuk and killed his driver.

Vladimir Tkachuk, CEO of Uraldronzavod, which manufactures the Upyr FPV drone, was targeted in an assassination attempt on the evening of August 4 in Bolshoy Istok, a village in the Sverdlovsk region about 25 kilometers (about 16 miles) from Yekaterinburg. Tkachuk also created the Z channel “Povernutye na voine” (“Obsessed with War”), which has more than 660,000 subscribers. According to reporting by the Russian business daily Kommersant, the businessman was injured when his Mercedes exploded and is in extremely critical condition. His driver was killed.

The administrators of Tkachuk’s Telegram channel confirmed the assassination attempt, writing in a post: “He is currently in intensive care in stable condition. The channel continues to operate.” Kommersant reported that an explosive device detonated under Tkachuk’s car, and published photos show the vehicle completely burned. A source told the Russian state news agency TASS that Tkachuk’s condition was stable and that his life was not in danger.

Russia’s Investigative Committee for the Sverdlovsk region has opened a criminal case on charges of murder by a means posing a danger to the public, attempted murder, and illegal trafficking in explosives. Investigators’ preliminary theory holds that “agents of Ukrainian intelligence services” orchestrated the attack, and a terrorism charge could soon be added to the case, Kommersant reported.

Tkachuk, 35, worked at Epiona, a pharmacy chain in the Urals, before the full-scale invasion began, the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona said. The Telegram channel “Mozhem obiasnit” (“We Can Explain”) says that in 2009, Tkachuk was a suspect in a criminal case involving the production of pornography. The case’s details and outcome remain unknown.

Tkachuk regularly visited the conflict zone in Donbas in 2015 and 2016. Before launching the Telegram channel “Povernutye na voine,” he had already started a group under the same name on VK, the Russian social media platform, in 2017.

Tkachuk began raising money for weapons production in the fall of 2022, using the funds to form a drone-racing team and build a workshop to assemble Upyr drones. He concealed his identity early in the war, but the independent Russian investigative outlet iStories identified him by name in 2023. Tkachuk went on to found a factory manufacturing Upyr FPV drones; in 2025, it generated around 6 billion rubles in revenue. The factory supplies these drones to the Central Military District’s forces, which use them actively at the front.

Tkachuk met with President Vladimir Putin at the Special Technology Center in St. Petersburg in September 2024, the independent Russian investigative outlet Agentstvo said. Recalling the meeting, Tkachuk said: “It surprised me that the president is always interested in the personal story. He came up and asked: “How did you even end up living like this?” He asked how we got started, what we had, what the concept was. And only afterward, at the end, did he ask about the technical specifications. He was interested in the safety system, how our safety mechanisms work, and the airburst detonation system.”

Uraldronzavod has been under U.S. and European Union sanctions since 2024.

This marks the second assassination attempt in a week targeting developers of drones used at the front. On July 29 in Tula, an unidentified assailant shot Andrey Cherezov, chief designer and developer of the Ovod FPV drones, in a building on Mikheeva Street, wounding him. The drone manufacturer’s press service said on August 1 that his condition was stable. The Telegram channels Mash and “112,” both close to security officials, reported that the attack happened at night as Cherezov was returning home: the gunman was waiting for him in the entryway and shot him three times on the landing. Cherezov’s wife, who heard the gunshots, called an ambulance.