KYIV — An MP and former military figure in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region -- currently under Russian occupation -- has died after his car blew up, local news reported on Wednesday.

Mikhail Filiponenko suffered "fatal injuries" in the blast, his son Ivan told Lug-info.

The media site said Filiponenko was a member of the local parliament and former leader of the Lugansk separatist army.

Another MP in the region, Yuri Yurov, claimed on Telegram that Filiponenko was targetted by a car bomb in February 2022, but emerged alive "by a miracle".

Yurov said Filiponenko was one of the founders of the pro-Russian Lugansk separatist force in 2014, which then waged war against Kyiv.

The four Ukrainian territories Moscow claims to have annexed -- Lugansk, Donetsk Kherson and Zaporizhia -- are routinely hit by attacks, sometimes fatal, on officials within the Moscow-backed administration.

Several assassinations have been blamed on Ukraine by Russian authorities since Moscow's February 2022 invasion.

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven nations said on Wednesday they would remain unified in their "firm support" for Kyiv as it battles Russia.

They maintained assistance would continue "even in the current international situation", referring to the war between Israel and Hamas that has gripped the world's attention.

Top diplomats of Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, US and UK also expressed their desire to impose "severe sanctions" on Moscow, accelerate reconstruction efforts in Ukraine and "work towards a peace process", according to a press release from Japan's foreign ministry.

Ukraine increasingly fears its Western allies - whose support is key to their war effort against Moscow - are growing weary, while its summer counter-offensive has produced very limited results so far.

Kyiv will need further weapons and assistance from the West as the probability of a long war of attrition increases.

It is important for the G7 to make clear to the international community its commitment to Ukraine "will never run out of steam", even if a new conflict in the Middle East erupts, the Japanese minister of foreign affairs Yoko Kamikawa was quoted as saying in the press release. — Euronews