Russian pro-Kremlin military blogger killed in cafe blast in St Petersburg

An explosion in a St Petersburg cafe has killed prominent Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky, Russia's Interior Ministry has confirmed.

At least 25 people were injured in the bomb blast at Street Food Bar No 1.

Videos on social media show an explosion and injured people on the street. It is not clear who was responsible for the blast.

Vladlen Tatarsky (real name Maxim Fomin) was a vocal supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine.

He was a guest speaker at an event hosted by the cafe when the bomb went off.

There are conflicting reports in Russian media about the explosive device. According to Interior Ministry sources quoted by Russian state media, Tatarsky was presented with a statue in a box as a gift, which had a bomb hidden inside.

Video circulating on Telegram after the blast showed him being handed a statue and making jokes about it, however, the BBC has been unable to verify whether it was explosive.

Unlike many other Russian military bloggers and state media journalists in Ukraine, Tatarsky took up arms in combat operations, BBC Russian correspondent Olga Ivshina reports.

He had reported from the Ukraine front line and gained particular notoriety last year after posting a video filmed inside the Kremlin in which he said: "We will defeat everyone, we will kill everyone, we will rob everyone as necessary. Just as we like it."

The occasion for that was a Kremlin ceremony hosted by President Vladimir Putin, who proclaimed Russia's annexation of four partly-occupied regions of Ukraine. That land grab was internationally condemned.

St Petersburg is President Putin's home city, where he first rose to prominence.

Tatarsky has more than 500,000 followers on Telegram, where he and other military bloggers have criticised aspects of the Russian campaign in Ukraine.

Cyber Front Z, a group calling itself "Russia's information troops" on Telegram, said it had hired out the cafe for the evening.

"There was a terrorist attack. We took certain security measures but unfortunately, they were not enough," its post on Telegram said.