Senior Russian military officer killed in car bomb near Moscow

A senior Russian military officer was killed in a car explosion on Friday in the Moscow region, Russian authorities confirmed.

The victim was identified as Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

“According to available information, the explosion was caused by the detonation of an improvised explosive device containing destructive elements,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement, adding that it had launched a criminal investigation into the killing.

According to the authorities, the explosion occurred at approximately 10:40 a.m. local time in Balashikha, a city just outside Moscow, as Moskalik was passing by a parked Volkswagen Golf near his residence.

Videos circulating on social media show a car exploding and catching fire outside an apartment block, sending a thick plume of smoke into the air.

The explosion came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow for a new round of high-level diplomatic talks. Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss efforts to end the war in Ukraine and restore bilateral relations between Moscow and Washington.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several senior Russian military officials have been targeted and killed in attacks that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukrainian operatives.