A Russian general and his assistant were killed by a car bomb in Moscow on Monday, with investigators saying it’s possible Ukrainian operatives orchestrated the attack.
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, who was head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed in the blast, along with his assistant, the Associated Press reported. Russian authorities said that investigators “are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services.”
Sarvarov is the third senior Russian military officer to be killed by a car bombing in the past year. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of the assassinations, including the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who led Russia’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces. Kirillov was killed last December by a bomb placed on an electric scooter outside his apartment building.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical substances against the Ukrainian military,” a Ukrainian official said at the time. “Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”
Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships
Russia arrested an Uzbek man who was charged with carrying out the attack last year on behalf of Ukraine. Putin called the assassination of Kirillov a “major blunder” by Russian security agencies.
Then in April, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskali was killed in Moscow by a bomb placed near his parked car, according to the AP. Ukraine did not directly take credit for Moskali’s killing, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at the time that he received a briefing on the “liquidation” of top Russian military officials, adding that “justice inevitably comes.”
The killings of top Russian military leaders have come as Ukraine has held off Russian forces for nearly four years. The exact number of casualties Russia has suffered since launching its invasion in February 2022 is unclear, but President Donald Trump said in August that he had been told that over 112,000 Russians have been killed during the “ridiculous war.” Trump has been pushing Putin to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine to end the bloodshed, arguing that Russia is taking the brunt of the losses.
