Investigators say that the latest in a string of apparent assassinations targeting Ukrainian opponents in Russia, which came as a ceasefire talk, a senior Russian commander was killed on Friday in a car explosion in the suburbs of Moscow, does not show any indication of progress.
The Russian Investigation Committee, the FBI equivalent, has issued a statement identifying the officers as Lieutenant General Jaroslav Moscarick, a senior Russian military player. Investigators said they have opened a criminal investigation into the explosion that took place in the town of Balashika in eastern Moscow.
The explosion came on the same day that President Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkov, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin for another prominent negotiation to end the war in Ukraine and reestablish bilateral relations between Russia and the United States.
Putin has abandoned Trump’s demands for quick peace in Ukraine, and air strikes on Russian civilian targets appear to be on the rise. Ukrainian president Voldy Miezelensky, whose Russian strikes killed at least 12 people and injured 90 people in a major attack on Kiev, the capital of Ukrainians, called on Moscow to put more pressure on him to approach a “complete, unconditional halt.”
Ukrainian authorities did not immediately comment on General Moscarick’s death on Friday.
General Moscarick served as deputy director of the main operations division of the general staff of the Russian military. This is the division that implements the planning and execution of military operations. In 2015, he was part of the Russian delegation at talks in Minsk, Belarus, along with Ukraine, which failed to secure peace in eastern Ukraine, according to the RBC, a Russian news outlet.
A video circulating on social media and verified by the New York Times shows the car exploded and sparking a fire outside the block of an apartment, sending thick smoke into the air. Other footage, verified by the Times, showed people rushing to the scene as secondary explosions echoed in the distance.
The investigation committee released the video from a scene showing what appears to be a burnt Volkswagen golf parked just outside the home. In another statement, investigators said they were trying to assess the person behind the murder but did not name the suspect.
However, the murder of General Moscarick follows a series of similar attacks on opponents of the Ukrainian government. In February, the prominent figure of Ukraine’s prominent Russian separatist, Almen Sarkisian, was killed when a bomb exploded inside a residence at a gate in Moscow. Ukrainian officials did not comment on the explosion at the time.
In December, Igor Kirillov, the general responsible for the Russian military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces, was killed in a bomb near the entrance to a Moscow residential building. An official from Ukrainian Security Services, known as the SBU, said Ukraine was responsible for the murder at the time.
In April 2023, Maxim Fomin, more commonly known as Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger and activist Vladren Tatarsky, was killed after a bomb exploded in a cafe in St. Petersburg. The bomb was planted in a statue of his portrait during the public lecture he was giving. More than 40 people were injured as a result of the explosion. Russian investigators later arrested the woman who brought the statue and accused Ukraine of organizing the murders.
In August 2022, a car exploded outside a festival near Moscow, killing prominent conservative activist Dahlia Doguina. The US intelligence reporting agency said it believes that some of the Ukrainian government has approved the attack.
Maria Varenikova and Sanjana Varghese reported.
