Kremlin blames Ukraine for car bomb killing of general near Moscow

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed a senior Russian military officer near Moscow on Friday, hours before U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

There was no official comment from Kyiv on the death of 59-year-old Yaroslav Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures to be assassinated since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.

Witkoff met Putin to discuss U.S. proposals for ending the war, now well into its fourth year.

"The Kyiv regime once again simply shows its true nature. The Kyiv regime continues to be involved in terrorist activity on the territory of our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.

"It shows once again that, despite the peace talks, we must be on guard and understand the nature of this regime."

Ukraine's SBU intelligence service did not respond to a request for comment on the killing of Moskalik, who was deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

That position would have given him an important role in planning Russian military operations, including in Ukraine. State media said he held the rank of lieutenant general.

The body of a man, partially covered in a white sheet, lay on the pavement outside the entrance to an apartment building in the town of Balashikha, east of Moscow, near a burnt-out car.

"The explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements," investigators said in a statement.

Ukraine's SBU killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in a similar manner last December. Trump's Ukraine envoy, General Keith Kellogg, said that attack violated the rules of warfare.

RISING STAR

Russian war bloggers described Moskalik as a rising star. He had participated in several high-level Russian delegations that have met Western officials to try to negotiate a settlement to the conflict in Ukraine.

He also dealt with Syria, presenting a report on military-technical cooperation in Africa and the Middle East at a security forum in Moscow in 2021.

Rybar, a Russian war blogger with over 1.2 million subscribers on Telegram, said he was viewed as "one of the most intelligent and demanding officers" in his directorate.

The blogger said Moskalik was being considered to serve as head of the National Defence Management Centre, the supreme command and control centre of the Russian Armed Forces, due to his "systematic approach and thoughtfulness."

(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow and Lucy Papachristou in London; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Kevin Liffey)