![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278765880.jpg\")
A view of the scene of a car explosion in southern Moscow, Russia that killed senior Russian general on 22 December (Photo: Anastasia Barashkova) <\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\tIntelligence sources said that battlefield co-operation between London and Kyiv, combined with heightened tensions with Moscow, have raised concerns\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n
On Wednesday night, two police officers in southern Moscow were drawn to a suspicious individual loitering near a patrol car. As they approached, an explosive device was detonated, killing three people. <\/p>\n
The blast was the second of its kind this week to reverberate through the Russian capital. On Monday, Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov, a senior Russian military figure, was killed when a device planted beneath his car exploded in a similar attack. <\/p>\n
While Ukraine has remained silent on the attacks, Russian authorities have accused the country\u2019s SBU intelligence agency of being behind the bombings. It is not known if the two incidents are linked.<\/p>\n
Security officials and experts say the explosions, which come as peace talks continue between Kyiv, Moscow and Washington, are part of Ukraine\u2019s clandestine operations inside Russia\u2019s borders, designed to \u201cundermine confidence\u201d in President Putin\u2019s ability to keep his countrymen safe.<\/p>\n
While Ukraine is more than capable of carrying out such attacks independently, intelligence sources have told The i Paper that years of battlefield co-operation between London and Kyiv, combined with heightened tensions with Moscow, have raised concerns the UK could still face repercussions.<\/p>\n
They told The i Paper that Putin will feel compelled to \u201csend a message back to Ukraine\u201d if clandestine strikes against Russian officials continue. Any retaliation, they added, \u201cwould have to be significant\u201d.<\/p>\n
A UK intelligence source warned that while there is no suggestion of British involvement, any suspicion in Moscow of British assistance could see Russia extend its response beyond Ukraine, escalating psychological and information warfare against the West.<\/p>\n
A view of the scene of a car explosion in southern Moscow, Russia that killed senior Russian general on 22 December (Photo: Anastasia Barashkova) <\/p>\n
James Everard, former Nato chief, said the attacks could increase a \u201cshadow war\u201d that was already well under way. <\/strong>Putin\u2019s aim, he said, was to demonstrate \u201cthe inability of governments to maintain control\u201d.<\/p>\n Bringing the war to Putin\u2019s door\u00a0<\/p>\n The attacks follow a pattern of targeted operations inside Russia intended to bring the realities of the war closer to the Kremlin. Since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, at least three senior military figures and pro-Kremlin officials have been killed or targeted in suspected assassinations.<\/p>\n In April, Yaroslav Moskalik, a Russian lieutenant general, was killed in a car bombing near Moscow, while Igor Kirillov, the country\u2019s head of Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Defences, died in December 2024 when a booby-trapped electric scooter exploded.<\/p>\n While the perpetrators for this week\u2019s attacks against police officers and Moskalik are still unconfirmed, Ukraine\u2019s SBU security service claimed the killing of Kirillov as \u201ca legitimate target\u201d and alleged he had carried out war crimes.<\/p>\n Dr Dan Lomas, a security and intelligence expert at Nottingham University, said the attacks were \u201ccarefully calibrated\u201d to bring the war home to \u201ceveryday Russians\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cUnlike Russia, which continues to attack civilian targets, we\u2019re seeing Ukraine engage in attacks against the Russian military,\u201d he told The i Paper. \u201cRussia remains vulnerable, and it shows flaws in Russia\u2019s domestic service, the FSB, in trying to protect Moscow.\u201d<\/p>\n A Nato official, who asked not to be named, said the attacks would sow doubt among the Russian public, and harm the morale of Russian military units by telling them that there was a \u201cprice to pay\u201d for their actions in Ukraine.<\/p>\n The implication from Kyiv was clear, they said: \u201cIf you slaughter civilians, we are coming for you.\u201d<\/p>\n Death amid negotiations<\/p>\n The latest killing comes as Ukraine and the US hammer out the details of an updated peace plan that opens the door for discussions of a demilitarised zone on the east of the country. The US delegation has been locked in talks with Volodymyr Zelensky over the weekend, with the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the area proving the main sticking point.<\/p>\n Asked whether the assassinations would hamper peace talks, a US intelligence source was unmoved. <\/p>\n \u201cRussia isn\u2019t changing their approach to this war and neither is Ukraine,\u201d they said. \u201cNo matter what is being said at the negotiating table.\u201d <\/p>\n But a British intelligence source disagreed, arguing that the latest attack had been carried out with \u201coptimal timing\u201d to put pressure on Putin at home, which could push him towards more meaningful negotiations.<\/p>\n John Foreman, the UK\u2019s former defence attach\u00e9 to Moscow, said the killings exposed Russia\u2019s security \u201cincompetence\u201d, and warned the Kremlin would be quick to blame the UK for its role in the attacks.<\/p>\n He said Britain\u2019s special services plays an \u201coutsized role\u201d in the minds of the Kremlin, with whom the UK is experiencing a fraught relationship.<\/p>\n \t\tYour next read<\/p>\n![\"Ukraine's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_278115267.jpg\")
Ukraine\u2019s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff have been central to negotiations towards peace in Ukraine (Photo: Lisi Niesner)<\/p>\n
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