DE News Desk :
A senior Russian military official, Major General Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed in a car explosion on Friday in the town of Balashikha, just outside Moscow, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
Moskalik, who served as deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, died after a homemade explosive device detonated near a parked vehicle as he passed by.
Authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the incident.
“The explosion was caused by an improvised explosive device packed with destructive elements,” the Investigative Committee said in an official statement.
The source or perpetrators of the attack have not yet been identified.
Russian media outlet Baza, citing law enforcement sources, reported that the bomb was remotely triggered.
Surveillance footage published by Izvestia appeared to show a person approaching a row of parked cars, followed by a powerful blast that sent debris flying several meters into the air.
According to Kommersant, a second individual was also killed in the explosion, though no further details were immediately available.
Major General Moskalik was a prominent figure in Russian military and diplomatic circles.
He had participated in high-level delegations, including the 2015 Normandy Format talks involving Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia, aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
He represented the General Staff during these negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.
His death adds to a growing list of targeted attacks against senior Russian military officials since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, many of which Moscow has blamed on Ukrainian intelligence operatives.
In December, Ukraine’s SBU was accused of orchestrating a similar attack that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov with an explosive device concealed inside an electric scooter.
The SBU has not commented on Moskalik’s reported death.