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Not on the battlefield, not on occupied territory .... plain terror in reciprocal mode of attrition. Not on the threshold of peace ... a new option will be on the "game" board of the military strategists.

General Yaroslav Moskalik is the latest Russian military commander or pro-Kremlin figure believed to have been targeted by Ukrainians inside Russia.

This comes as US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to hold talks with President Putin to discuss a possible peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

'Sapere aude'

Top Russian general killed in Moscow as U.S. envoy talks with Putin | WaPo - minutes ago |

Russia's Foreign Ministry called it a terrorist attack, and surveillance footage showed a car exploding as Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik was approaching it in a Moscow suburb.

A destroyed car in the courtyard of residential buildings following a blast in a suburb of Moscow on Friday. (Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP/Getty Images)

The Kremlin disclosed few details following the three-hour meeting between Witkoff and Putin, their fourth in recent months, as Trump continues to push for a resolution to the three-year war in Ukraine.

Yury Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, described the talks as "constructive," saying they helped narrow the gap between Russian and U.S. positions not only on Ukraine but on several broader international issues. Ushakov added the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian representatives was discussed.

As Witkoff's private jet approached Moscow ahead of the talks, Russia's Investigative Committee, its top policing body, launched a criminal investigation into the death of Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, who was killed when a vehicle rigged with an improvised explosive device packed with shrapnel detonated. Surveillance footage published from the scene suggests Moskalik was walking past the car at the time of the explosion.

Kommersant newspaper, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that the device was detonated remotely and that Moskalik had been under surveillance via a camera installed inside the vehicle.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called it a "terrorist attack" and said there were "grounds to believe" Ukrainian special services had been involved.

Klitschko's comments on giving up territory to Russia met with dismay by Ukrainian lawmakers | Kyiv Independent |

Comments from Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko that Ukraine may be forced to 'temporarily' give up some territories to Russia have been met with dismay by Ukrainian lawmakers who spoke to the Kyiv Independent.

"No politician in Ukraine is authorized to change Ukraine's borders -- this is the sovereign right of the Ukrainian people alone," Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a lawmaker from the Holos party and chairman of the parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, said.

"Therefore, such positions or proposals only play into the hands of the enemy, showing that pressure works and some concessions are possible," he added.

"One of the scenarios is... to give up territory. It's not fair. But for peace, temporary peace, maybe it can be a solution. Temporary," Klitschko said in a released excerpt of the interview.

He added that Ukrainians would "never accept occupation" by Russia.

"I absolutely disagree with this statement," lawmaker and chair of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, Oleksandr Merezhko, told the Kyiv Independent.

"Maybe he expressed his thoughts incorrectly and didn't mean it. The truth is, that Ukraine will never agree to any territorial concessions," he said.

Eastern Europe just not ready for the European Union ... pulled in by the aggression of American wars across the Middle East - Neocon war planning - ... bloodshed as introduction fee to become an EU member, this will have severe repercussions for the future ... violence and adaptation to Empire expansion for Walls Street capitalism.

'Sapere aude'

• US will abandon the `unwinnable' proxy war in Ukraine like they ended their failure in Vietnam | Sky News Aus - 14 Feb. 2023 |

The withdrawal from Ukraine will share the same feeling of regret - that sense that America overcommitted to a war it had no business winning - as the conclusion of the US combat role in south-east Asia, writes Professor Joseph M. Siracusa.

• U.S.-Russia Proxy War in Ukraine Is a Case of Deterrence Failure | CIFP - 29 Dec. 2024 |


• No, Ukraine Is Not Fighting  a 'Proxy War' | The Dispatch - 24 April 2025 |