What made it even more dramatic was that Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, a senior official of such stature in the Russian Armed Forces, was killed Friday in a car bombing in Balashikha, a suburb that is 15 miles outside Moscow. The explosion was caused by a homemade improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel and blew up as the general exited a building nearby, Russian authorities confirmed. Moskalik also died in the blast, destroying a parked Volkswagen Golf. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but its nature bears a resemblance to earlier, targeted killings of Russian military leaders, including last month’s killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.
Profile of General Yaroslav Moskalik
In Russia, Moskalik was the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, which is a strategic position. His high rank notwithstanding, a large trifle about him was in the public knowledge. Moskalik was described as an officer who was a competent and disciplined military tactician but unpopular with his subordinates. Investigators have already opened a criminal investigation to find those responsible, and his death is a serious blow to Russia’s command structure.
Timing with US-Russia Peace Talks
On the same day as Steve Witkoff, the U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, was in Moscow for urgent ceasefire talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, he was killed. Many suspect that timing was an attempt to hijack, or at least influence, the ongoing diplomatic negotiations behind the attack. Trump’s broader effort to strike a peace deal in the first 100 days of his presidency has taken him to Witkoff’s gables, where he visited yesterday. This was Witkoff’s fourth trip to Russia since January 2025 and his second this month.What made it even more dramatic was that Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, a senior official of such stature in the Russian Armed Forces, was killed Friday in a car bombing in Balashikha, a suburb that is 15 miles outside Moscow.
The explosion was caused by a homemade improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel and blew up as the general exited a building nearby, Russian authorities confirmed. Moskalik also died in the blast, destroying a parked Volkswagen Golf. No group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but its nature bears a resemblance to earlier, targeted killings of Russian military leaders, including last month’s killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov.
Profile of General Yaroslav Moskalik
In Russia, Moskalik was the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, which is a strategic position. His high rank notwithstanding, a large trifle about him was in the public knowledge. Moskalik was described as an officer who was a competent and disciplined military tactician but unpopular with his subordinates. Investigators have already opened a criminal investigation to find those responsible, and his death is a serious blow to Russia’s command structure.
Timing with US-Russia Peace Talks
On the same day as Steve Witkoff, the U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy, was in Moscow for urgent ceasefire talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to broker an end to the war in Ukraine, he was killed. Many suspect that timing was an attempt to hijack, or at least influence, the ongoing diplomatic negotiations behind the attack. Trump’s broader effort to strike a peace deal in the first 100 days of his presidency has taken him to Witkoff’s gables, where he visited yesterday. This was Witkoff’s fourth trip to Russia since January 2025 and his second this month.
