The Russian authorities are investigating a car bombing that killed the Head of the Russian General Staff’s Operational Training Directorate, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, on 22 December 2025. The incident took place as the bomb placed under his parked car detonated outside a residential complex in the southern Moscow. This is the latest in a series of attacks on Russian military officials and figures supportive of Moscow’s moves during its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
Sarvakov, who fought against insurgents in Chechnya and in Russia’s operation in Syria in 2015-16, played a key role in preparing troops, ensuring combat readiness, and planning military operations for the ongoing war in Ukraine. His death marks the assassination of the third high-profile general in the past one year. The Russian investigators suspect the involvement of Ukrainian intelligence in the Sarvarov incident. However there have been no confirmation from Kiev on such claims.
Prior to this, on 25 April 2025, the Deputy Head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in car explosion in a Moscow suburb. During investigation, Russian prosecutors charged a man allegedly paid by the Ukrainian intelligence.
In a similar manner of attack, on 17 December 2024, Chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was killed along with his assistant outside his Moscow apartment, in one of the boldest targeted assassinations claimed by Ukraine’s Security Services (SBU) sources. Accusing him of war crimes, the SBU said that Kirillov was allegedly responsible for ordering and overseeing the systematic use of banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian forces.
Not Just Military
While the above mentioned are high-profile Russian military personnels, the list does not stop there. The Russian media has reported targeted attacks on individuals who were close to the Russian leadership and have been supportive to Moscow’s war efforts in Ukraine.
In November 2024, a Russian serviceman in Sevastopol was killed in a bomb blast. The victim was identified as a Russian Naval Captain, Valery Trankovsky, and the attack was later claimed by the SBU. The SBU subsequently stated that Trankovsky was considered a war criminal, who was behind the orders to launch cruise missiles from the Black Sea on civilian targets in Ukraine. According to the Services, he was responsible for the for the July 2022 Kalibr missile strike on Vinnytsia, which killed twenty-nine civilians.
In October 2024, an employee of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine was killed in a car bomb attack. Identified as Andrei Korotkiy, the Ukrainian military intelligence said it “punished a war criminal,” accusing and labelling him being a collaborator with Russian forces by identifying pro-Ukrainian employees at the plant.
The occurrence of similar attacks can also be traced back to 2023 as well. In December, a pro-Russian former Ukrainian parliamentarian, Illia Kyva, who Kyiv regarded as a traitor was shot near Moscow. Various news agencies quoted sources stating Kyva, who was frequently criticised by the Ukrainian authorities online, was killed by the SBU.
In July the same year, Russian ex-submarine officer, Stanislav Rzhitsky, who had commanded a submarine in the Black Sea and appeared on a Ukrainian blacklist of alleged war criminals was shot dead while out on a morning run in the southern city of Krasnodar.
In April 2023, a pro-war Russian military blogger Vladen Tatarsky was killed by a bomb concealed in a statuette presented to him by a woman in a St Petersburg cafe. Later, in Jan 2024, a Russian court sentenced antiwar activist Darya Trepova to 27 years in prison for her role in Tatarsky’s killing, that Moscow said was orchestrated by Ukraine.
A similar incident also occurred in August 2022, when Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian philosopher, Alexander Dugin was killed by a car bomb in the Moscow region. The Americans denied involvement in the attack at that time and said that they were not aware of the operation. As reports state, Washington “admonished” Ukrainian officials over the assassination, while the latter denied involvement in the killing and officials repeated those denials.
The Significance
While Moscow claims SBU is behind the attack on 22 December and Kyiv remains silent, it remains unclear as to why General Sarvarov had been targeted.
In the past, Kiev has used these sorts of targeted attacks to embarrass Moscow and bring their vulnerabilities to the forefront. Beyond targeted assassinations, one of the most notable examples was Ukraine’s Spider Web attack in June 2025, which coordinated drone attacks on Russian airbases within the country. Taken together, these attacks inside Russia appear designed to weaken assumptions that Russia has a dominant position in the ongoing war.
However, the timing of the blast remains significant as it follows the latest peace talks held by the Americans, separately with the Russian and Ukrainian officials in Miami (19 – 20 December 2025). Representatives on the American and Ukrainian side have stated that the talks were “productive and constructive,” but Kremlin said there was “no breakthrough.”
Such attacks and assassinations, while they do not directly impact developments in the battlefield, are highly symbolic. They showcase Ukrainian Intelligence capabilities to penetrate Russian security, recruit assets, and carry out precise strikes far from the front lines. The targeting of high-ranking officials in and around the capital also sends out a powerful psychological message that even Moscow and its vicinities are not safe, potentially with an intention to affect the morale of the population and leadership.
In the broader context of the war, these assassinations reflect Ukraine’s asymmetric strategy to counterbalance Moscow’s conventional military advantages, bring the conflict closer to home, and maintain pressure while also signalling resolve amid discussions about ending the war.
Although, Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility nor commented on the 22 December blast, the overall effect is clear: the killing reinforces Ukraine’s strategy of targeted disruption while embarrassing Moscow, exposing its vulnerabilities, and sustaining psychological pressure. Additionally, as news reports indicate that Russia is currently carrying out large-scale attacks across Ukraine, and events such as the killing of General Sarvarov could contribute to the intensification of these operations.
