A senior Russian military officer was killed in a car explosion in Balashikha town, located close to Moscow, on Friday.

The Russian Investigative Committee identified the deceased person as Yaroslav Moskalik, reported TASS news agency.

He was the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

According to reports, the blast was caused due to an improvised explosive device.

 An investigation into the incident is currently underway.

Law enforcement sources told New York Post that the bomb was planted in a parked car and it was detonated remotely when the officer was walking past it.

The blast occurred a day after Russia launched a major attack on several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.

It is still not clear whether the officer was the target of the blast.

The latest Russian strikes reportedly damaged 12 buildings in the capital, causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and key services, while phones have been heard ringing from the rubble.

Other Ukrainian cities targeted included Zhytomyr - due west of Kyiv – and the northeastern cities of Sumy -  where a daytime missile strike killed at least 34 people on 13 April - and Kharkiv - where the authorities reported 24 drone and missile strikes in total.

“The casualty count is expected to rise as emergency teams continue search-and-rescue operations,” said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

The development follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s reported decision on Wednesday to reject a US-led proposal to seek a peace deal with Russia that would have involved ceding territory lost during the war. In theory, this would include the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in addition to Crimea, which Russia annexed illegally in 2014.

“Last night’s large-scale attack by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on residential areas in Kyiv and surrounding regions is yet another appalling violation of international humanitarian law,” said the UN’s top aid official in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale.

Children and a pregnant woman were among the more than 70 people injured by Wednesday night’s reported missile and drone strikes. “This senseless use of force must stop… Civilians must never be targets”, insisted Schmale, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine.

Witkoff

The blast occurred just hours before US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Witkoff is in the Russian capital for crunch talks on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine as Trump’s self-imposed deadline of ending the war within the first 100 days of his presidency nears, reported CNN.

Meanwhile, Trump did not express happiness over the recent Russian strikes on Ukraine and wrote on X: "I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV. Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP! 5000 soldiers a week are dying. Lets get the Peace Deal DONE!"