THIS is the dramatic moment a senior Russian war general was brutally killed in a huge car bombing in Moscow.
59-year-old Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik was the victim of a suspected assassination when a car containing explosives and shrapnel detonated next to him.
Images show how a Volkswagen Golf was left decimated in Balashikha in Moscow region at around 10.40am today.
The car was quickly engulfed in flames as thick black smoke billowed into the air.
Moskalik, who had recently received a promotion from President Putin, happened to be passing by at the moment of the blast and was thrown several meters by the force of the explosion.
Traces of IED striking elements were reportedly also found at the scene.
The power of the explosives uncovered was the equivalent of more than 300g of TNT, Russian emergency services say.
These explosive devices were said to have been “filled with shrapnel”, according to state news agency TASS.
Two others were also seriously injured, unconfirmed reports say.
Locals also reported hearing several more detonations erupting, according to Russian media.
Moskalik was the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
But he had recently been promoted to Lieutenant-General shortly before his death.
He also represented Russia’s General Staff in talks with Ukraine in 2015.
The explosive was likely detonated from a remote location with the car parked only a few feet away from a tall apartment block.
One building even had its windows shattered due to the ferocity of the explosion, locals said.
It is still unclear who may have caused the blast with many onlookers left shocked by the inferno.
A Russian Telegram account has speculated that the main suspect – named as Ignat Kuzin – was from Ukraine.
He is believed to be the owner of the Volkswagen Golf and rented a flat in the same building as the slain general in recent months.
The same channel also said the suspect flew to Turkey on April 23 to evade capture.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case into the explosion.
The timing of the deadly ploy comes as US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin today.
Putin is holding more talks in Moscow with Witkoff, with the pair pictured shaking hands in the Russian capital.
It is the fourth meeting the Putin and Witkoff have had within three months.
The incident in Moscow occurred shortly after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine, firing over 200 missiles and drones, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen individuals and injuring 80 others.
The deadly aerial attacks were followed up by further Kremlin attacks overnight on Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv.
A number of top Russian officials have been targeted in similar covert attacks since Putin launched his full scale invasion on Ukraine over three years ago.
In December, a bomb planted in an electric scooter blew up a top Russian general accused of masterminding the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, was killed as the device detonated just seconds after he left his apartment in Moscow.
Ukraine’s intelligence services said they were behind the blast at the time as Britain’s MI6 revealed it helps Kyiv with “covert action”.
Last November, another top Putin commander was taken out by a car bomb.
A graphic video showed how Russian naval commander Captain Valery Trankovsky was blown up in a fiery inferno.
Trankovsky’s legs had blasted off in the explosion and he died from “combined injuries and profuse blood loss.”
The commander has been the highest-ranking naval officer to be killed on the edge of Russia since the invasion started.
Back in July, Andrei Torgashov, 50, jumped into a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado which quickly exploded – leaving his legs blown off.
Russian authorities suspected the blast north of Moscow, was likely linked to the war in Ukraine and was treated as an assassination attempt.
