Yaroslav Yaroslavovich Moskalik was a Russian military officer who served as a Lieutenant General and Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. He was killed in a car bomb explosion in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast, in April 2025.

Military career

Moskalik held the rank of Lieutenant General and served as the Deputy Chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

He was a senior officer involved in strategic military operations and represented the Russian General Staff in negotiations with Ukraine in Paris in 2015 and, at least in 2019, in 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 Russia-backed separatist forces that broke out in 2014.

Death

Around 12:00 local time on 25 April 2025, Moskalik was killed in a car bomb explosion in Balashikha, a suburb east of Moscow. According to reports, an improvised explosive device (IED) with shrapnel was detonated remotely in a parked car as Moskalik, who lived in the area, passed by. The explosion was powerful enough to shatter windows in nearby buildings. Russia's Investigative Committee classified the incident as murder and confirmed the use of a homemade explosive device.

A similar incident occurred in December 2024, when another Russian general, Igor Kirillov, was killed in a bomb attack in Moscow, attributed by both the Security Service of Ukraine and Russian authorities to Ukrainian intelligence services.

The killing of Moskalik occurred amid ongoing tensions in the Russo-Ukrainian War and coincided with diplomatic efforts, including a visit by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to discuss peace proposals.

As of 31 December 2024, Ukrainian sources claimed that 21 Russian generals and one admiral had been killed during the invasion, while Russian sources have confirmed ten deaths.

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