
Senior Russian general killed by car bomb in Moscow
created: April 25, 2025, 4:33 p.m. | updated: April 26, 2025, 9:35 a.m.
Senior Russian general killed by car bomb in Moscow
17 hours ago Share Save Vicky Wong BBC News Share Save
INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF RUSSIA/HANDOUT/Getty Images
A senior Russian general has been killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow, officials have confirmed. Russia's Investigative Committee (SK) - the main federal investigating authority in the country - confirmed Gen Yaroslav Moskalik died when a Volkswagen Golf car exploded after an improvised explosive device stuffed with pellets went off. Local media reported that the car was parked next to the general's house in the eastern suburb of Balashikha and exploded as he walked past it. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying Kyiv "continues its involvement in terrorist activities inside our country". Ukraine has not commented.
Moskalik represented Russia's General Staff in talks with Ukraine in Paris in 2015, which resulted in the Minsk agreements set up to end the war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces that started in 2014. According to the Kremlin website, he joined the Russian contingent led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin aide and former Russian ambassador to the US, Yuri Ushakov, for those ceasefire talks. Videos and photos circulating on Telegram on Friday show a car in flames outside a block of flats. As a matter of policy, Ukraine never officially admits or claims responsibility for targeted attacks such as the one which killed Gen Moskalik. But unnamed sources within Ukrainian security services have previously told the media, including the BBC, that they have been behind similar assassinations, such as the killing of Gen Igor Kirillov in December 2024. Named officials, though, never went on the record. Within Russia, there does not appear to be a force willing and able to carry out such attacks.
Telegram Videos and photos circulating on Telegram show a car in flames outside a block of flats