A Russian general was killed Monday morning after an explosive device detonated underneath his car in southern Moscow, investigators said.

Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff, died from his injuries, Svetlana Petrenko, official spokesperson for Russia’s Investigative Committee, said.

Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed Monday morning after an explosive device detonated underneath his car in southern Moscow
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov was killed Monday morning after an explosive device detonated underneath his car in southern Moscow.MoD/east2west news

“Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of enquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services,” Petrenko said.

Russian news outlets reported that a car exploded in a parking lot on Moscow’s Yaseneva Street with the driver inside at approximately 7 a.m.

Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for a similar attack against a high-ranking Russian soldier in December 2024. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building a day after Kyiv leveled criminal charges against him.

An investigator works at the scene where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff's army operational training directorate, was reportedly killed in a car bomb in Moscow, Russia, December 22, 2025.
An investigator works at the scene where Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Russian General Staff’s army operational training directorate, was reportedly killed in a car bomb in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 22, 2025.AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) listens to his aide Yuri Ushakov (L) during the Eurasian Economic Union Summit, on December 21, 2025 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) listens to his aide Yuri Ushakov (L) during the Eurasian Economic Union Summit, on Dec. 21, 2025 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.