A home-made explosive device blows up in a parked car, killing Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, authorities say.<\/p>\n
A senior Russian general has been killed after a home-made explosive device ripped through a parked car in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow, according to the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes in the country.<\/p>\n
Authorities named Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the main operational directorate of the military\u2019s General Staff, as the victim of Friday\u2019s attack, which appeared to be similar to previous attacks<\/a> on Russians linked to Moscow\u2019s military offensive in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements,\u201d the Investigative Committee said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n Investigators added that they had opened a probe into the deadly attack after a Volkswagen Golf blew up outside a block of flats in Balashikha. The statement did not say who might be behind the incident.<\/p>\n Second victim reported<\/p>\n Russia\u2019s Kommersant newspaper said a second person was also killed.<\/p>\n Images from the scene posted on social media showed a blaze that gutted a car.<\/p>\n The Agentstvo investigative news site, citing leaked information, said Moskalik lived in Balashikha, but the Volkswagen was not registered to him.<\/p>\n Security camera footage posted by the Izvestia newspaper showed a massive explosion, sending fragments flying into the air. The blast happens just as someone can be seen walking towards the car.<\/p>\n According to the Kremlin website, Moskalik was a Russian military representative at the \u201cNormandy Format\u201d talks on Ukraine in 2015, amid the conflict between Kyiv and Russian-backed separatists.<\/p>\n Russian President Vladimir Putin made him lieutenant-general in 2021.<\/p>\n Previous deadly attacks on Russians linked to the war in Ukraine include the August 2022 car bombing of nationalist Darya Dugina<\/a>, and an explosion in a Saint Petersburg cafe in April 2023 that killed high-profile military correspondent Maxim Fomin<\/a>, known as Vladlen Tatarsky.<\/p>\n