A Russian general was killed by a car bomb just outside Moscow

A sapper works at the scene where Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in a car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow, Russia, on Friday, April 25, 2025. (AP Photo)

MOSCOW — A Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Friday, Russia’s top criminal investigation agency said, in the second such attack on a top Russian military officer in four months that Moscow blamed on Ukraine.

The Investigative Committee said that Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside Moscow.

The committee’s spokesperson, Svetlana Petrenko, said that the explosive device was rigged with shrapnel. She said that investigators were at the scene.

Russian media ran videos of a vehicle burning in the courtyard of an apartment building.

The committee did not immediately mention possible suspects, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova declared without offering evidence that “there are reasons to believe that Ukrainian special services were involved in the killing.”

Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the attack.

“If the investigation confirms the Ukrainian trace in this case, this will once again demonstrate to the world community the barbaric and treacherous nature of the Kyiv regime, which is betting on an escalation of military confrontation with Russia and irresponsibly ignoring constructive proposals aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict,” Zakharova said.

The attack follows the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov on Dec. 17, 2024, when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. Russian authorities also blamed Ukraine and Ukraine’s security agency acknowledged it was behind the attack.

Kirillov was the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemy’s use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment. Kirillov’s assistant also died in the attack.

Friday’s bombing came as U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, visited Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin on a U.S.-brokered peace plan for Ukraine. The meeting was their fourth encounter since February.