BALASHIKHA: An explosive device ripped through a parked car near Moscow on Friday morning, killing a senior Russian general, investigators said, in an attack that resembled previous killings claimed by Ukraine.

Authorities named the victim as General-Lieut­enant Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the military’s general staff, which is in charge of army operations.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had opened a murder probe after a Volkswagen Golf blew up outside a block of flats in Balashikha town, east of Moscow.

The “blast was caused by the triggering of an improvised explosive device” packed with metal fragments designed to cause maximum harm, investigators said. “Our military figure was killed as a result of a terrorist attack,” Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Kyiv silent as the attack echoes past hits on military and pro-Kremlin figures

Footage released by the investigative committee showed the general’s body near a burnt car outside an apartment building. Video published by the Izvestia newspaper showed debris flying as a massive blast occurred just as someone walked towards the vehicle.

Several Investigators worked at the scene, with police cordoning off the area on Friday and ambulances present. “The explosion was very strong, it even gave me heart pain,” Lyudmila, a 50-year-old who lives nearby said.

Kyiv did not comment on the attack that bore the hallmarks of previous assa­­ssinations of Russian figures. Ukraine has called some of them “legitimate targets” and sees the attacks as retribution for Moscow’s military campaign.

Similar previous attacks claimed by Kyiv include the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina and an explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023 that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin, known as Vladlen Tatarsky.

The Agentstvo investigative news site, citing leaked information, said Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.

Russian Telegram channels posted unconfirmed reports that the car had been purchased a few months ago by a man from the Ukrainian city of Sumy. They wrote that it had been parked outside the block of flats for a few days and was equipped with a camera.

According to the Kremlin website, Moskalik had represented the Russian military at ceasefire talks with Ukraine in 2015.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2025