A Russian general was assassinated in a car bombing on Monday in Moscow, making him the country’s latest senior military officer to be targeted.
Local authorities investigating the killing of Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, the head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, have suggested Ukraine, which hasn’t commented on it yet, could be responsible.
“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” said Svetlana Petrenko, the spokeswoman for Russia’s Investigative Committee.
There have been a handful of assassination attempts of senior Russian leaders periodically since the start of the war in Ukraine nearly four years ago. In some cases, Ukrainian officials acknowledge their role in the assassinations, but not in every case.
Almost exactly a year ago, another Russian general, Igor Kirillov, was killed with one of his aides after an explosive device planted within a scooter was detonated near the entryway of his apartment. Kirillov had been in charge of the country’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection forces.
Then, in April 2025, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, was killed when a car laden with explosives detonated near his home as he walked past it. Days later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated that Ukraine was involved in the “liquidation” of top Russian military officials.
Individuals were arrested shortly after both assassinations.
Ukraine, which has a much smaller army with a less sophisticated arsenal, has conducted various surprise operations within Russian territory in attempts to change the battlefield dynamics.
In addition to the assassinations, Ukrainian forces carried out a surprise blitz into Russian territory and briefly held a portion of Russian territory before slowly ceding it back over time, and they carried out a major drone operation targeting Russian aircraft by smuggling the drones across the border and launching them from inside Russian territory.
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Meanwhile, other European countries have accused Russia of being responsible for a series of ongoing acts of sabotage and aggression that don’t meet the traditional threshold of warfare, known as “gray zone” activities.
In recent months, several European countries have tracked unidentified drones in their airspace, forcing them to close airports, scramble local air assets, and more. Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonian airspace, and a Russian jet flew over a German Navy frigate in the Baltic Sea, among other similar incidents.
