Russian general killed in car bombing outside Moscow prepared war briefings for Putin

Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, who was killed in a car bombing on April 25 in the city of Balashikha just outside Moscow, headed a group that monitored the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to an obituary published in Krasnaya Zvezda, the official newspaper of Russia’s Ministry of Defense. As reported by the state-run news agency TASS, Moskalik was responsible for preparing war briefings for President Vladimir Putin.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moskalik had led the duty shift of the Combat Control Group of the Russian General Staff, which monitors the situation in the combat zone. TASS noted that the lieutenant general was personally in charge of compiling reports on the progress of the war for Putin.

From 2015 to 2021, Moskalik was part of the Russian Defense Ministry’s delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine. In 2015, he also took part in the planning of Russia’s military operation in Syria. Between 2002 and 2005, he served in the North Caucasus.

Moskalik was killed on April 25 near his home in Balashikha when an explosive device planted in a parked car detonated.

Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on National Security, described Moskalik’s killing in Moscow as “good work” by Ukrainian intelligence, according to an interview published Monday. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) have not yet commented on his remarks.

A similar incident took place in Moscow in December 2024, when Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed by an explosive device planted on a scooter near his home. A camera had been installed to monitor his movements, and the device detonated as soon as he left the building.