Senior Russian General killed in car bomb blast near Moscow
Shafaq News/ A senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed on Friday when a car exploded in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow, in what authorities have described as a targeted attack using a powerful improvised explosive device.
Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed the death, saying Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was walking near his residence on Nesterova Boulevard when a bomb planted in a Volkswagen Golf detonated.
“The explosive device had a force equivalent to more than 300 grams of TNT,” said committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko. The device, reportedly packed with lethal shrapnel, was planted inside a parked vehicle and detonated remotely as Moskalik passed by, according to law enforcement sources cited by Russian news outlet Baza.
Although no group has claimed responsibility, the assassination bears similarities to previous attacks on Russian figures linked to the Ukraine conflict. Moskalik’s death follows that of Igor Kirillov, head of Russia’s Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops, who was killed last year in a similar bombing incident. Ukrainian intelligence services were widely suspected in that case.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, several Russian military officials, pro-war commentators, and public figures have been killed or wounded in explosions attributed to Ukrainian special operations.
The latest attack comes amid heightened security in the capital and increased pressure on Russia's military leadership. It also coincides with a tense diplomatic moment, as President Vladimir Putin was expected to meet with a US envoy later the same day to discuss the ongoing war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, urging the international community to "restrain Putin" and bring the conflict to an end.
