A Russian military colonel was killed Thursday morning when an explosive device detonated under his car in St. Petersburg, Russian media reported.
The bomb was attached to the underside of the vehicle and detonated remotely as the officer left his yard in the city’s Slavianka neighborhood, according to sources cited by Fontanka.
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Newspaper 78 reported that the explosion occurred near a Lenta supermarket and a Tatneft gas station on Kolpinskoye highway. The officer, a colonel, is believed to have served in the Russian 6th Air and Air Defense Force.
Traffic on the highway was halted following the explosion. Emergency services were rushed to the scene, while the Russian Investigative Committee opened criminal proceedings on suspicion of murder, without disclosing the name or rank of the target.
It was the second car bomb attack targeting a Russian military officer in the Slavyanka district of St. Petersburg in less than three months.
On August 27, a car carrying a Russian military officer and his wife exploded in the same neighborhood. The man was killed, while his wife was seriously injured and taken to intensive care.
The victim was likely 43-year-old Major Sergei Sechkov, who served in the 332nd Helicopter Regiment of the Russian Separate Guards.
Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) had accused the regiment in May 2022 of carrying out missile and bomb strikes against civilian targets in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
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Sechkov allegedly told his superiors that he was on a potential assassination list and regularly inspected his vehicle before getting behind the wheel.
Russian media outlet Fontanka later reported that a 24-year-old woman allegedly planted the explosive device before leaving Russia via Turkey for Moldova. The circumstances and possible organizers of the attack remain unclear.
Slavyanka was previously developed in part to accommodate Russian military personnel. In 2012, the Russian Defense Ministry owned almost a third of the residential properties under construction in the district.
A series of attacks against Russian military figures
The latest bombing comes amid a series of broader attacks targeting Russian military and officials, including senior officers killed in car bombings and explosions.
On August 13, Russian Navy Captain Robert Shageev, 1st rank, was killed in an explosion in Sevastopol. Before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, Shageev had served in the Ukrainian navy and commanded Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia. He then joined the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
Similar attacks have already targeted Russian soldiers in the Moscow region.
In April 2025, Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff, was killed by a car bomb in Balashikha, near Moscow.
Ukrainian officials later indicated that Ukrainian intelligence services carried out the operation.
Another car bombing in April 2025 killed Yevgeny Rytikov, a senior engineer involved in the development of Russia’s Krasukha electronic warfare systems.
Ukrainian intelligence sources neither confirmed nor denied any involvement in the attack.
The campaign also extended to Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, where Ukrainian partisans and intelligence-linked operations targeted occupation officials and military personnel.
In November 2023, a series of attacks killed Russian-backed officials and military personnel, including a car bombing that killed Luhansk’s Moscow-based security chief Mikhail Filiponenko.
Most recently, an explosion at the Balzi Rossi restaurant in Moscow on August 1 killed five people and injured at least 19.
The intended target could be the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces, General Alexander Chaiko.
Chaiko was attending a private birthday party at the restaurant. His possible involvement in the Bucha attack during Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has made him the target of Ukrainian war crimes charges.
The general’s fate after the explosion remains unclear, with conflicting information about whether he survived. Russian authorities have not provided any definitive information on his condition.
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