Three people — including two traffic police officers — died after an explosive device detonated in Moscow as officers were approaching a "suspicious individual," investigators said. The blast occurred near the scene where Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb earlier in the week. Russian authorities have linked recent high-profile killings of senior officers to Ukraine and pointed to earlier incidents involving Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov and Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik. Investigations and forensic work are ongoing.
Three Dead in Moscow Explosion Near Site of General’s Car Bombing
Law enforcement officers work near the scene in Moscow where two traffic police officers and another person were killed in a blast on Dec. 24, 2025. / Credit: Ramil Sitdikov / REUTERS
Moscow — Three people, including two traffic police officers, were killed in an explosion in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian investigators said. The blast came just days after a car bomb killed a high-ranking general in roughly the same part of the city.
Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said the two traffic officers were approaching a "suspicious individual" when an explosive device detonated. The officers and a nearby bystander died of their injuries, Petrenko said. Investigators and forensic experts were working at the scene.
The explosion occurred in the same area of Moscow where Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed by a car bomb on Monday. Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff, died when an explosive device detonated beneath his vehicle in southern Moscow. Russian investigators have said Ukraine may have been behind that attack; those claims are part of an ongoing inquiry.
Russian officials pointed to two earlier high-profile killings in the past year. On Dec. 17, 2024, Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who led the military's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building; Kirillov's assistant also died. Ukraine's security service publicly claimed responsibility for that attack, and an Uzbek man was arrested and later charged with carrying it out on behalf of the Ukrainian service.
In April, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the General Staff's main operational department, was killed by an explosive device placed in his parked car near his apartment outside Moscow. Authorities said a suspect was quickly arrested in that case.
Since Russia sent troops into Ukraine nearly four years ago, Russian authorities have blamed Ukraine for a number of assassinations and attacks on military officers and public figures inside Russia; Ukraine has acknowledged responsibility for some incidents in public statements. Investigations into these attacks are ongoing, and attribution in such cases remains contested and under legal review.
