A prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet working for the online investigative newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda was killed by a car bomb in central Kiev early on Wednesday (July 20) morning.

Sheremet was driving to work in the car of the newspaper's owner when it was blown up, an adviser to Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said.

Two eyewitnesses told Reuters television they had heard a loud blast and seen an explosion from underneath the car, which lay charred in the middle of the street.

"He was driving on secondary road. He was driving as if he was in a hurry. Explosion happened when he stopped as he saw that I was on a main road and planed to turn to the left," eyewitness Oleksiy said.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesperson Artem Shevchenko promised interior ministry will do everything possible to find those who are guilty and bring them to responsibility.

The founder of Ukrayinska Pravda, Georgiy Gongadze, was an investigative journalist who was murdered 16 years ago. The incident helped to precipitate Ukraine's Orange Revolution. Gongadze's body was found decapitated in a forest outside Kiev.