Ukrainian rebel leader Igor Plotnytsky returns to work after assassination attempt

Igor Plotnytsky, the leader of independence-seeking insurgents in Ukraine's eastern Lugansk region, said he came back to work three days after surviving an assassination attempt.

"The work of the authorities continues in the usual mode and I participate in the meetings and conferences on a regular basis," Plotnytsky said in a statement published by the insurgent-run Lugansk information centre.

In his statement, the leader of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) urged the public not to trust the "toxic rumours" about the deterioration of his health.

Plotnytsky was injured on Saturday morning when an explosive device went off near his car and he was hospitalised in Lugansk.

The Ukrainian security authorities suggested that Plotnytsky was in serious condition, while the self-styled Health minister of the self-proclaimed LNR Larysa Airapetyan said that the wounds were not life-threatening.

Plotnytsky has blamed the Ukrainian government for the explosion, while Kiev has denied the charges, saying it was not implicated in the blast.

Since April 2014, the Ukrainian army and rebels have been engaged in a military conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed some 9,400 people so far.