Car bomb kills Russian serviceman in St. Petersburg
A Russian serviceman died and his wife was injured when their car exploded in St. Petersburg, the latest in a string of bombings tied to Russia's war in Ukraine.
A Russian serviceman was killed and his wife injured when their car exploded in the Pushkinsky suburb on the outskirts of St. Petersburg on Thursday, according to the city's Investigative Committee. The statement did not identify the man or specify his rank.
The blast is the latest in a series of explosions on Russian soil, many of which have targeted individuals linked to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities have blamed Kyiv for some of these attacks, though no group has claimed responsibility for Thursday's bombing.
Just days earlier, on August 5, a factory director supplying drones to the Russian military was badly wounded and his driver killed when their car exploded near Yekaterinburg, about 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow. In another recent incident, a bomb detonated at an upscale Italian restaurant in Moscow, killing at least five people, including the bomber, according to Russian state media. The Russian Embassy in Rome attributed that blast to Ukraine, calling it an attempt to intimidate the Italian community, while Moscow's mayor described it as a "brutal terrorist act."
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Russia has seen a series of assassination attempts against military and government figures. In December 2024, Ukraine's SBU security service claimed responsibility for the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed Russia's nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, in a scooter-borne bomb blast outside his Moscow apartment.
Ukraine has denied involvement in other high-profile killings, such as the death of Darya Dugina, a nationalist commentator, who was killed in 2022 when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV detonated on the outskirts of Moscow. Her father, Alexander Dugin, a prominent pro-Putin philosopher, was widely believed to be the intended target.
Russian authorities have tightened security around senior officials following the wave of attacks, but investigators have not yet identified suspects in the latest St. Petersburg bombing.