28 April, Russia: A top Russian general, Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed in a car bomb blast outside his home in the eastern Moscow suburb of Balashikha, officials confirmed.
The top military officer died when a Volkswagen Golf loaded with an improvised explosive device full of pellets exploded as he passed by, Russia’s Investigative Committee (SK) said. Videos and images posted on Telegram showed the aftermath, with the car on fire outside a block of flats.
The Kremlin quickly blamed Ukraine, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Kyiv of perpetuating “terrorist activities” within Russian territory. However Ukraine has not made an official statement on the incident, continuing its policy of silence over targeted killings. Unnamed Ukrainian security sources have in the past suggested being involved in comparable missions, such as the December 2024 killing of Gen. Igor Kirillov, but no official confirmation ever occurred.
General Moskalik had played a pivotal role in the 2015 Paris peace talks that resulted in the Minsk Agreements for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists.
He was part of the Russian delegation, which participated alongside big-name leaders such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin advisor Yuri Ushakov during these high-stakes negotiations.
Why the timing of Moskalik’s murder is so important:
It occurred a few days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who had entered Moscow for meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a potential way to end Ukraine’s ongoing war. Lavrov previously signaled Russia’s willingness to make a deal with Washington, but he emphasized that certain points still needed “fine-tuning.”
In the meantime, Ukraine reported new Russian attacks. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 103 drones were fired by Russian forces overnight, killing three civilians — a child and a 76-year-old woman in the town of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
North-east of there, Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, confirmed that some private residences were hit by strikes on the city.
The killing of a figure as high-profile as Moskalik highlights the volatile and volatile nature of the conflict, with violence extending deep into Russian territory.
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