THE first picture of the alleged Ukrainian suspect in the car bomb killing of a senior Russian war general has been revealed.
Lieutenant-General Yaroslav Moskalik, 59, was taken out by a remote controlled car bomb as he walked towards the Volkswagen near Moscow.
An unreliable Telegram channel associated with Russian government supporters has pointed fingers at Ignat Kuzin as the primary suspect in the alleged car bombing. The channel claims that Kuzin hails from Sumy, Ukraine.
The alleged bomber managed to evade Putin’s secret services before escaping to Turkey on 23 April, according to reports.
He has been said to be the owner of the Volkswagen Golf and rented a flat in the same building as the slain general in recent months.
The Volkswagen Golf was left decimated in Balashikha in Moscow region at around 10.40am today.
Investigators claimed the VW was fitted with a surveillance camera and packed with 500 grams of explosives.
The car was quickly engulfed in flames as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
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.
During the explosion, Lieutenant-General Moskalik, who had recently received a promotion from Putin, was reportedly walking by and was forcefully thrown “several meters” due to the blast’s impact.
Traces of IED striking elements were reportedly also found at the scene.
The explosive devices were said to have been “filled with shrapnel”, according to state news agency TASS.
Two others were also seriously injured, unconfirmed reports claim.
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.
Following the death of the Russian general, Ukrainian government adviser Yuriy Sak made a controversial statement, implying that his passing may lead to a reduction in the number of Ukrainian children losing their lives.
He told Times Radio: “Well, usually our secret services and our intelligence services, when it is somehow related to official activities, most of the time they sooner or later admit that it was their job. But let me just leave it there.
“The more Russian military men die, the fewer Ukrainian children will die, so no regrets about that incident and let’s hope it’s not the last one.”
The explosive was thought to have 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.
The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case into the explosion.
ASSASSINATION FEARS
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.
Russian electronic warfare expert Yevgeny Rytikov reportedly died on 18 April in an undisclosed car bombing, Ukraine said on Friday.
Rytikov developed cutting edge electronic warfare equipment for the Russian army.
The Ukrainian report said: “It is known that Rytikov’s car exploded when he and a colleague got into it.
“It is likely that another person who also died as a result of the explosion was the deputy head of the design bureau or his assistant.
“It is designed to counter airborne radars of attack, reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft.”
And 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.
