Russian defense official killed in car bombing near Moscow

A man was killed when a bomb planted under his vehicle exploded in the Moscow suburb of Balashikha. Several Russian media outlets reported that the victim may have been a senior official from the Russian Ministry of Defense, although there was initial uncertainty on Russian Telegram channels about his exact military rank, with speculation ranging from colonel to general.

A BMW exploded while in motion at around 5:30 a.m. local time (02:30 GMT), according to Russia's Investigative Committee, which announced that it had opened an investigation into the incident but provided few additional details, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

According to the newspaper Kommersant, the improvised explosive device contained at least half a kilogram of explosives and had been attached beneath the vehicle.

The 57-year-old victim, who lived in Balashikha, reportedly appeared on a publicly accessible Ukrainian list of alleged enemies since 2023. The listing claimed that he was "directly involved in planning and organizing Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine," which Moscow launched in February 2022. The information was published on a Ukrainian portal known as the "Executioners List."

The incident follows a similar attack in April 2025, when a Russian general serving in the General Staff was killed by a bomb placed under his car in an eastern suburb of Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities on Tuesday evening carried out a controlled explosion to neutralize a suspicious object discovered in southwestern Moscow, according to local media reports.

Several Ukrainian media outlets, citing the Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which is considered close to Russian security services, identified the victim as Colonel Damir Davydov, head of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate within the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Reports noted that Davydov's 20-year-old son, Rafail, a cadet at a military academy and active social media user, had recently posted a photograph showing himself beside a BMW X3 — the same model of vehicle that exploded on Tuesday in the Moscow region.

Ukrainian intelligence services have repeatedly carried out operations targeting Russian military personnel and Ukrainians accused of collaborating with Russia. Such attacks have often involved improvised explosive devices placed underneath vehicles, according to reports cited by dpa.

Photo: Chat GPT