A senior Russian general was killed by a car bomb Friday as President Trump's envoy arrived in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine. Authorities say Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy chief of the Russian military's main operations directorate, was killed by the "detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements," the Telegraph reports. According to a Telegram channel linked to Russian law enforcement agencies, a bomb in a parked car was set off as Moskalik walked past it in Balashikha, just east of Moscow, on Friday morning, reports the Guardian.
There has been no comment from Kyiv on the assassination, but the method resembles previous attacks claimed by Ukraine, including the December killing of a general responsible for chemical weapons attacks on Ukrainian troops, the Guardian reports. Trump envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow Friday morning on his fourth trip to Russia this year. His meeting with Putin at the Kremlin began hours after the assassination, the BBC reports.
"Given the high-profile nature of the target and the method of execution, there is little doubt Ukrainian special services were involved," the Rybar military blogger channel said, per the Washington Post. The influential channel described Moskalik as "one of the most intelligent and demanding officers in the Main Directorate of the General Staff—not well-liked, because he demanded results and was relentlessly tough on his subordinates." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
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