The explosion of a Toyota Camry in central Kyiv on Friday evening, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and injured two other people, can be classified as 'a terrorist attack' rather than 'a premeditated murder', the Ukrainian National Police Service said.

"After the evaluation of all existing evidence and in case some additional circumstances are determined, a motion will be forwarded to prosecution agencies on re-classifying the criminal proceedings opened originally under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 115 Part 2 as one covered by Criminal Code Article 256 (terrorist attack)," the National Police Service press service said on Friday.

Law enforcement agencies, including investigators, forensic specialists and bomb disposal experts, are carrying out the necessary primary procedures at the crime scene, it said.

"Police officials are examining the adjacent territory and the damaged vehicle, questioning witnesses, and gathering evidence. The evidence gathered will later be subject to expert evaluation, based on the results of which a final decision will be made on classifying the event," it said.

It was reported earlier that a Toyota Camry with Georgian license plates was blown up in central Kyiv on Friday evening by means of a planted explosive device, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and severely injured a woman in the car; the third passenger, a child, was not harmed.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesperson Artem Shevchenko said a criminal case had been opened into the incident on charges of "premeditated murder committed using a publicly dangerous method" (Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 115 Part 2).

Several people who knew Makhauri said in an interview shown by the 112 Ukraine television channel at the scene of the incident that he had fought with a volunteer battalion in Donbas.