The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed a senior Russian military officer near Moscow on Friday, hours before U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
There was no official comment from Kyiv on the death of 59-year-old Yaroslav Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures to be assassinated since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“The Kyiv regime once again simply shows its true nature. The Kyiv regime continues to be involved in terrorist activity on the territory of our country,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.
“It shows, once again, that despite the peace talks we must be on guard and understand the nature of this regime.”
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service did not respond to a request for comment on the killing of Moskalik, who was deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
“According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Russian media outlet Baza, which has sources in Russia’s law enforcement agencies, said a bomb in a parked car had been detonated remotely when the officer — who lived locally — walked past.
The Izvestia newspaper published video footage showing a person approaching a line of parked cars outside an apartment complex and an explosion that sent parts of a vehicle flying metres into the air.
Kommersant newspaper said a second person was also killed.
Witkoff met Putin to discuss U.S. proposals for ending the war, now well into its fourth year.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov, who took part in the meeting, described it as constructive and very useful.
“This conversation allowed Russia and the United States to further bring their positions closer together, not only on Ukraine but also on a number of other international issues,” he told reporters.
“As for the Ukrainian crisis itself, the discussion focused in particular on the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of the Russian Federation and Ukraine.”
2nd military figure killed in 5 months
State media said Moskalik held the rank of lieutenant-general.
He joined the Russian contingent in a meeting in October 2015 of the Normandy Format, a group made up of teams from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France who oversaw the Minsk agreements designed to end the war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces that broke out in 2014.
Ukraine says it killed a senior Russian general in an explosion outside his apartment in Moscow. Andrew Chang breaks down what we know about how the attack unfolded and the significance of killing Igor Kirillov. Images gathered from Reuters, Getty Images and The Canadian Press.
Moskalik represented the army’s General Staff at the negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, according to the Kremlin website.
Russia’s RBC newspaper listed Moskalik as a participant in the security subgroup in the Minsk talks.
In December, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service used a bomb hidden in an electric scooter to kill Lt.-Gen. Igor Kirillov, whom Kyiv accused of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.
