A Russian general was killed by a car bomb just outside Moscow

MOSCOW AP A Russian general was killed by a car bomb on Friday Russia s top criminal scrutiny agency revealed in the second such attack on a top Russian military officer in four months The Investigative Committee announced that Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha just outside Moscow The committee s spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko reported the explosive device was rigged with shrapnel She announced that investigators were at the scene Russian media ran videos of a automobile burning in the courtyard of an apartment building The committee did not mention viable individuals The attack follows the killing of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov who died on Dec when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office The Russian leadership blamed Ukraine for the killing of Kirillov and Ukraine s measure agency acknowledged that it was behind that attack Kirillov was the chief of Russia s Radiation Biological and Chemical Protection Forces the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemy s use of nuclear chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated setting Kirillov s assistant also died in the attack Friday s bombing came just as U S President Donald Trump s envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a U S -brokered peace plan for Ukraine The meeting is their fourth encounter since February Source