Russia says 'reasons to believe' Ukraine behind car bomb

Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind a car bomb that killed a military general outside Moscow.

A senior Russian military officer was killed when a car exploded in the town of Balashikha just east of Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee has said.

It named the officer as Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, and said it had opened a criminal case into the incident.

"According to available data, the explosion occurred as a result of the detonation of a homemade explosive device filled with destructive elements," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The statement did not say who might be behind the incident.

However foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that "there are reasons to believe that Ukraine's special services were involved in the murder".

Several high-ranking Russian military figures have been assassinated since the start of the war in Ukraine in operations blamed by Russia on Ukraine.

Russian media outlet Baza, which has sources in Russia's law enforcement agencies, said a bomb in a parked car had been detonated remotely when the officer - who lived locally - walked past.

The Izvestia newspaper published video footage showing a person approaching a line of parked cars outside an apartment complex and an explosion that sent parts of a vehicle flying metres into the air.

Kommersant newspaper said a second person was also killed.

Mr Moskalik, who held the rank of major general, had participated in several high-level Russian delegations, according to defence ministry bulletins and media reports.

He joined the Russian contingent in a meeting in October 2015 of the Normandy Format, a group made up of teams from Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France who oversaw the Minsk agreements designed to end the war between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces that broke out in 2014.

Mr Moskalik represented the army's General Staff at the negotiations alongside Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, according to the Kremlin website.

Russia's RBC newspaper listed Mr Moskalik as a participant in the security subgroup in the Minsk talks.

In December, Ukraine's SBU intelligence service used a bomb hidden in an electric scooter to kill Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, whom Kyiv accused of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.

The SBU did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported death of Mr Moskalik.

Ukraine says it reaffirmed its positions at London talks

Meanwhile, Kyiv's delegation at a meeting with allies in London this week reaffirmed the principles on which talks on ending Russia's war in Ukraine are based, including never recognising any part of Ukrainian territory as Russian, Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesperson said.

Spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told a briefing that the Ukrainian delegation had also ruled out allowing any country to have a veto on what alliances Ukraine can make and would not let restrictions be imposed on its armed forces.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that the talks between Ukrainian and Western officials in London on Wednesday had not been "easy" but were "constructive."

"No third country has the right to veto Ukraine's choice of alliances and partnerships," Mr Tykhyi said.

Ukraine has repeatedly said it wants to join NATO and sees membership as a guarantee against any aggressive action by Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Russia says Ukraine must not join NATO and has called for Ukraine to be demilitarised.

However, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Ukraine may have to cede territory in order to secure "temporary" peace with Russia.

"One of the scenarios is... to give up territory. It's not fair. But for the peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution, temporary," the former boxing champion said in an interview with the BBC.

His comments came after a Russian missile-and-drone attack on his city yesterday killed at least 12 people and injured more than 80.

Mr Klitschko said he was "responsible for the capital of Ukraine" and that Mr Zelensky may have to accept a "painful solution" to achieve peace.

He added that the Ukrainian people would "never accept occupation" by Russia.

US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine and Russia to agree a deal, and it is reported that territorial concessions, including the United States recognising Russian control of Crimea - illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014 - are part of his proposals.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and currently controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia is "ready" to reach an agreement with Ukraine, according to an interview with CBS News posted online.

Mr Trump "mentions a deal and we are ready to reach a deal but there are still some specific elements of this deal which need to be fine-tuned," Mr Lavrov said in the interview.

"There are several signs that we are moving in the right direction," he added.

When asked about yesterday's strikes on Kyiv, Mr Lavrov said: "We only target military goals or civilian sites used by the military."

"If this was a target used by the Ukrainian military, the Ministry of Defence, the commanders in the field have the right to attack them," he continued.

Earlier, Mr Trump issued a rare rebuke of the Kremlin via social media: "I am not happy with the Russian strikes," Mr Trump wrote. "Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!"

Mr Zelensky cut short a visit to South Africa to urgently return to Kyiv after yesterday's Russian deadly strike on the capital.

Missile that killed 12 in Russian strike on Kyiv was North Korean - Zelensky

Mr Zelensky said the Russian missile that struck a residential building in Kyiv yesterday was supplied by North Korea, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

A North Korean KN-23 (KN-23A) missile hit a residential block in the Sviatoshynskyi district west of Kyiv's centre during a major aerial attack by Russia, a Ukrainian military source said.

"According to preliminary information, the Russians used a ballistic missile manufactured in North Korea. Our special services are verifying all the details," Mr Zelensky said on X, without providing further details.

Russia made no comment on Mr Zelensky's remarks. Russia and North Korea have denied weapons transfers that would violate UN embargoes.

Russia's military cooperation with North Korea grew rapidly as Moscow became internationally isolated after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine says North Korea has supplied Russia with vast amounts of artillery shells as well as rocket systems, thousands of troops and ballistic missiles, which Moscow began using for strikes against Ukraine at the end of 2023.

By the start of 2025, Pyongyang had supplied Russia with 148KN-23 and KN-24 ballistic missiles, Ukraine's military spy agency says.

KN-23 (KN-23A) missiles are armed with warheads of up to one tonne, which is more powerful than the Russian equivalent missiles, the Ukrainian source said.

In the initial readout after the Russian attack, Kyiv said seven ballistic missiles were used in total, identifying them broadly as Iskander-M/KN-23.

North Korea's involvement in Ukraine has alarmed not only European capitals but also South Korea and its allies in Asia, who fear that lessons learned from war could be unleashed on them one day.