Senior Russian army officer killed by automobile bomb in metropolis close to Moscow, say officers – Europe dwell

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has confirmed that the Russian president is “receiving president Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in the Kremlin”, Reuters reviews, citing Interfax.

Tass has reported on its Telegram channel “Ushakov and Dmitriev take part in Putin’s meeting with Witkoff”.

Presumably – though the Guardian has not confirmed this – that implies Yuri Ushakov, former Russian ambassador to the US, and Putin’s funding envoy Kirill Dmitriev are in attendence. Dmitriev met Witkoff earlier this month.

Right here is one other picture from the scene in Balashikha the place Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a automobile explosion.

In Moscow, Interfax is reporting that Vladimir Putin is assembly with US envoy Steve Witkoff.

Reuters reviews overseas ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi has reaffirmed Kyiv’s negotiating place, saying that at talks in London this week the Ukrainian delegation insisted that Ukraine won’t settle for:

• being compelled to recognise any a part of Ukrainian territory as Russian

• permitting any nation to have a veto on what alliances Ukraine could make

• imposing any restrictions upon Ukraine’s armed forces

Paperwork revealed earlier at present [See 11.35 CEST] recommend that the US is proposing that Ukraine be allowed to pursue EU membership if it needs, however will likely be completely barred from becoming a member of Nato. Stopping Ukraine’s Nato membership has been one in all Vladimir Putin’s conflict objectives.

That is a picture from @balashikha_life, proven on Russian media, which purports to point out the automobile bomb in Balashikha, a metropolis simply to the east of Moscow, which killed senior army official Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik.

The Guardian has not independently verified the picture.

Pjotr Sauer is a Russian affairs reporter for the Guardian

A senior Russian army official was killed in a automobile explosion close to Moscow on Friday, simply hours earlier than a Kremlin assembly between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Russian authorities named the officer as Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the principle operations directorate of the final employees of the Russian armed forces.

The blast gave the impression to be related in nature to earlier assaults on Russians that had been later claimed by Ukraine and will forged a shadow over Friday’s talks between Moscow and Washington.

Baza, a Telegram channel with sources in Russia’s legislation enforcement companies, mentioned a bomb in a parked automobile within the city of Balashikha within the Moscow area had been detonated remotely when the officer, who lived regionally, walked previous.

A video circulating on Russian social media captured the second the automobile exploded, whereas extra pictures confirmed the car utterly burned out.

Learn Pjotr Sauer’s full report right here: Russian basic killed in automobile blast hours earlier than US envoy’s Kremlin assembly

Tass reviews that Maria Zakharova, Russia’s overseas ministry spokesperson, has described the killing of Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik as a “terrorist attack”.

Related Press has additional particulars of the confirmed killing of a senior Russian army official by a automobile bomb within the metropolis of Balashikha, which lies simply to the east of the outskirts of Russia’s capital.

It reviews Russia’s prime legal investigation company confirmed the killing of Lt Gen Yaroslav Moskalik. The deputy head of the principle operational division within the basic employees of the Russian armed forces, he was killed by an explosive machine positioned in his automobile.

The committee’s spokesperson, Svetlana Petrenko, mentioned the explosive machine was rigged with shrapnel. She mentioned that investigators had been on the scene.

The committee didn’t point out doable suspects, however Ukraine was blamed for the dying of Lt Gen Igor Kirillov on 17 December final 12 months, when a bomb hidden on an electrical scooter parked exterior his residence exploded as he left for his workplace.

Time Journal has this morning revealed an interview with US president Donald Trump by which he has reiterated what seems to now be the US place on the way forward for Crimea, which Russia invaded and annexed in 2014. “Crimea will stay with Russia”, he instructed the journal.

A senior Russian army officer has reportedly been killed in a automobile explosion in a metropolis close to Moscow, Reuters reviews, citing native media sources. The explosion passed off in Balashikha, which is within the Moscow area, to the east of Russia’s capital.

Tass initially reported “the investigative committee opened a case after a car exploded in Balashikha near Moscow; investigators and forensic experts went to the scene” later including “The cause of the car explosion in Balashikha was an explosive device, emergency services told Tass.”

Tass additionally reported, citing emergency providers, that “the explosive device … was filled with shrapnel.”

Reuters, which has not verified the data, reviews that native media named the officer killed as Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the principle operations directorate of the final employees of the Russian armed forces.

There was no quick official affirmation from the authorities of what occurred or particulars concerning the id of the reported sufferer.

Extra particulars quickly …

Reuters has additionally revealed particulars of one other doc, which it says are the counterproposals for a deal put ahead by Ukrainian and European officers.

These are as follows:

• Decide to a full and unconditional ceasefire within the sky, on land and at sea

• Each side instantly enter into negotiations on technical implementation with the participation of the US and European nations. That is in parallel to preparation of the agenda and modalities for a full peace deal

• Ceasefire monitoring, led by the US and supported by third nations.

• Russia should unconditionally return all deported and illegally displaced Ukrainian youngsters

• Trade of all prisoners of conflict (the precept of “all for all”)

• Russia should launch all civilian prisoners

• Ukraine receives strong safety ensures together with from the US (Article 5-like settlement), whereas there is no such thing as a consensus amongst Allies on Nato membership

• No restrictions on the Ukrainian Protection Forces

• The guarantor states will likely be an advert hoc group of European nations and keen non-European nations. No restrictions on the presence, weapons and operations of pleasant overseas forces on the territory of Ukraine

• Ukraine pursues accession to the EU

• Territorial points will likely be mentioned and resolved after a full and unconditional ceasefire

• Territorial negotiations begin from the idea of the road of management

• Ukraine regains management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant with US involvement, and likewise the Kakhovka Dam

• Ukraine enjoys unhindered passages on the Dnipro River and management of the Kinburn Spit

• US and Ukraine implement financial cooperation/minerals settlement

• Ukraine will likely be absolutely reconstructed and compensated financially, together with by way of Russian sovereign belongings that can stay frozen till Russia compensates harm to Ukraine

• US sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014 could also be topic to gradual easing after a sustainable peace is achieved and topic to resumption within the occasion of a breach of the peace settlement

The Guardian has not independently verified the doc.

Reuters has revealed what it says are particulars of the Russia-Ukraine Deal Framework being proposed by the US.

The information company says the proposal is described as “the final offer from the United States to both sides”. It goes on to element the next phrases

• Everlasting ceasefire

• Each side instantly have interaction in technical implementation negotiations

• Ukraine receives strong safety assure

• Guarantor states will likely be an advert hoc grouping of European states plus keen non-European states

• Ukraine won’t search to affix Nato

• Ukraine could pursue EU membership

• US supplies de jure recognition of Russian management of Crimea

• US supplies de facto recognition of Russian management of Luhansk

• US supplies de facto recognition of Russian-controlled components of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Kherson

• Ukraine regains territory in Kharkiv oblast

• Ukraine regains management of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Energy Plant by way of US management and administration of the plant, with electrical energy distributed to each side, and likewise the Kakhovka Dam

• Ukraine enjoys unhindered passage on Dnipro River and management of the Kinburn Spit

• United States and Ukraine will implement financial cooperation/minerals settlement

• Ukraine to be absolutely reconstructed and compensated financially

• Sanctions on Russia ensuing from this battle since 2014 will likely be eliminated

• US-Russian financial cooperation on vitality and different industrial sectors

The Guardian has not independently verified the doc.

Witkoff’s go to – second this month and fourth since January – comes after one other night time of Russian assaults on Ukraine.

Ukrainian officers reported {that a} Russian drone has struck an residence constructing in a southeastern Ukraine metropolis, killing three folks and injuring 10 others, AP reported.

Among the many civilians killed within the night-time drone strike in Pavlohrad, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk area, had been a baby and a 76-year-old lady, the pinnacle of the regional administration, Serhii Lysak, wrote on Telegram.

Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at 5 Ukrainian areas in a single day, Ukraine’s air pressure reported.

And the Interfax information company has now reported that Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow, the place he’s anticipated to fulfill Vladimir Putin.

Reuters famous that Witkoff has emerged as Washington’s key interlocutor with Putin as Trump pushes for a deal to finish the conflict in Ukraine, and has already held three lengthy conferences with the Kremlin chief.

US peace envoy Steve Witkoff is predicted to journey to Moscow at present for additional talks with Russia, together with president Vladimir Putin, on Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine.

Hoping to get outcomes earlier than Trump’s 100 days within the workplace subsequent week, Witkoff must discover a method to convey the sense of the president’s frustration with the Russian assault on Kyiv on Thursday, whereas hoping to make good progress as Washington tries to place strain on Kyiv to conform to its proposal.

Russian overseas minister Sergei Lavrov instructed CBS Information that Russia was “ready to reach a deal, but there are still some specific points … which need to be fine-tuned, and we are busy with this,” as he praised Trump for being “probably the only leader on Earth who recognised the need to address the root causes of this situation.”

However there are nonetheless huge sticking factors, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeatedly refusing to surrender on any of the Russian occupied territory together with the strategically positioned Crimea.

On Thursday, he defined that “we do everything that our partners have proposed; only what contradicts our legislation and the constitution we cannot do.”

And the Ukrainian president has highly effective allies in European leaders like Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron and in Nato secretary basic Mark Rutte, who mentioned on Thursday that it was Moscow, not Kyiv, that wanted to maneuver ahead in negotiations.

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson additionally criticised the proposed deal, saying Ukraine “gets nothing” below the phrases supplied by Trump – though the US president insisted final night time that Russia “stopping the war, stopping taking the whole country” is a “pretty big concession.”

It’s Friday, 25 April 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa right here, and that is Europe Dwell.

Good morning.