Russian serviceman killed in St Petersburg car bomb attack

Stpetersburgh,UPDATED: Aug 27, 2026 20:32 IST

A Russian serviceman was killed in a car bomb attack on Thursday in the latest in a series of deadly explosions on Russian soil targeting military personnel and others linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for some of the blasts, while Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some attacks and denied involvement in others.

The serviceman was killed and his wife was injured when their car exploded in the Pushkinsky suburb on the outskirts of St Petersburg, the city’s branch of the Investigative Committee said. Officials did not identify the man or disclose his rank.

The blast follows another recent attack in which the director of a factory supplying drones to the Russian military was badly wounded and his driver was killed when their car exploded on August 5 just outside Yekaterinburg, about 1,400 kilometres east of Moscow. Investigators did not say who they believed carried out that attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.

Days earlier, a bomb exploded at an upscale Italian restaurant in Moscow, killing at least five people, including the bomber, Russian state media reported, citing local officials. The Russian Embassy in Rome blamed the explosion on Ukraine and described it as an “attempt to intimidate the Italian community in Russia”. The Russian Foreign Ministry reposted the embassy statement without comment, while Russia’s security agencies have not identified any suspects. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the bombing a “brutal terrorist act” but did not say who was responsible.

Earlier this year, Russia’s Federal Security Service said security would be tightened around senior military and government officials after a series of assassination attempts in Russian cities since the Kremlin launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks inside Russia. Ukraine’s SBU security service said in December 2024 that it had organised the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, who headed the Russian military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces. Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service filed criminal charges against him.

In other prominent cases, Ukraine has denied involvement, including in the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of influential nationalist thinker Alexander Dugin. Dugina, a 29-year-old commentator with a nationalist Russian TV channel, was killed when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow, authorities said. Her father, a philosopher, writer and political theorist who strongly supports President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine, was widely believed to have been the intended target. Russian media, citing witnesses, said the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.

The blast near St Petersburg adds to a growing list of bomb attacks inside Russia involving military-linked figures and others connected to the war in Ukraine, with responsibility in several cases either disputed or still unclear.

With PTI Inputs

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