Russian serviceman killed in car bomb in St. Petersburg, officials say

A Russian serviceman was killed by a car bomb Thursday, officials said, the latest in a string of deadly blasts targeting military personnel and others linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The man 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. It did not identify the man or give his rank.

The incident is the latest in a series of explosions on Russian soil, many targeting people involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has blamed Kyiv for some of the blasts.

Most recently, the director of a factory supplying drones to the Russian military was badly wounded and his driver killed when their car exploded Aug. 5 just outside Yekaterinburg, 1,400 kilometers (about 870 miles) east of Moscow.

Investigators did not say who they believed carried out the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.

Days earlier, a bomb detonated at an upscale Italian restaurant in Moscow, killing at least five people including the bomber, Russian state media said, 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, and Russia’s security agencies have not identified any suspects. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin described the bombing as a “brutal terrorist act,” but did not say who was responsible.

Earlier this year, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that authorities would tighten security around senior military and government officials following a series of assassination attempts in Russian cities since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv has claimed responsibility for some attacks on Russian soil. Ukraine’s SBU security service said in December 2024 that it had organized 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 leveled criminal charges against him.

In other prominent cases, Ukraine has denied involvement, such as 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, died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up on Saturday night as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow, ripping the vehicle apart and killing her on the spot, authorities said.

Her father, Alexander Dugin, a philosopher, writer and political theorist who ardently supports Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into Ukraine, was widely believed to be the intended target. Russian media quoted witnesses as saying that the SUV belonged to Dugin and that he had decided at the last minute to travel in another vehicle.