A high-ranking Russian general has died in an explosion in Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee confirmed on Friday, the 25th of April, reports The Kyiv Independent.
According to Russian state media, a car exploded in the courtyard of a residential building in Balashikha, Moscow Region, killing one person.
The Russian Investigative Committee later identified the deceased as Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian Army.
“According to available data, the explosion was the result of the detonation of an homemade explosive device,” it added. A criminal case has been opened.
Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
The incident took place as US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The person killed in the car explosion in Balashikha was Deputy Head of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff, General Yaroslav Moskalyk, according to Russian media. https://t.co/vSnbOSRZZc pic.twitter.com/Carr5rsOue
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 25, 2025
There is little publicly available information about Moskalik. He was part of the Russian delegation to the 2015 Normandy format talks, organised to find a solution to Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine. He was also involved in the Normandy Four high-level meeting in 2019, as well as talks with Syria’s now-overthrown dictator Bashar al-Assad a year earlier.
Although Ukraine is not officially linked to this car bombing, Kyiv has previously targeted Russian officials who played a key role in Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian armed forces’ anti-radiation, chemical and biological defence units, was killed in an explosion at his residence in Moscow in December 2024, a source in the Ukrainian Security Service told the Kyiv Independent.
Russian expert Mikhail Shatsky, who was involved in modernising missiles fired against Ukraine, was shot dead near Moscow on the 12th of December, a source in the Defence Forces told the Kyiv Independent.
Russian Colonel Alexei Kolomeitsev, who trained specialists in the use of the attack drones, was killed in the town of Kolomna in the Moscow region, Ukrainian Military Intelligence (HUR) reported on the 28th of September.