Russian Colonel Blown Up in St. Petersburg as Attacks on Military Figures Mount

A Russian military colonel was killed when an explosive device detonated beneath his car in St. Petersburg on the morning of Nov. 12, Russian media reported. The bomb was attached to the underside of the vehicle and detonated remotely as the officer was leaving his courtyard in the city’s Slavyanka neighborhood, according to sources cited by Fontanka.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The 78 news outlet reported that the explosion occurred near a Lenta supermarket and a Tatneft gas station on Kolpinskoye Highway. The officer reportedly served in Russia’s 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army. Traffic on the highway was suspended following the blast. Emergency services were dispatched to the scene, while Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on suspicion of murder. The attack marks the second car bombing targeting a Russian military officer in St. Petersburg’s Slavyanka neighborhood in less than three months. On Aug. 27, a car carrying a Russian military officer and his wife exploded in the same neighborhood. The man was killed, while his wife was seriously injured and taken to intensive care. The victim was likely 43-year-old Major Sergey Sechkov, who served in Russia’s 332nd Separate Guards Helicopter Regiment. Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) had accused the regiment in May 2022 of carrying out missile and bomb strikes against civilian targets in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions. Other Topics of Interest US Says Rubio, Wang Discussed Trilateral Summit With Russia, but China Makes No Mention Washington says the two diplomats emphasized peace and nuclear disarmament, while Beijing’s readout made no mention of a three-way summit. Sechkov had reportedly told his superiors he was on a potential assassination list and regularly inspected his vehicle before driving. Russian outlet Fontanka subsequently reported that a 24-year-old woman had allegedly planted the explosive device before leaving Russia via Turkey for Moldova. The circumstances and possible organizers of the attack remained unclear. Slavyanka was previously developed in part to accommodate Russian military personnel. By 2012, the Russian Defense Ministry owned nearly a third of the residential property under construction in the neighborhood. The latest bombing comes amid a broader series of attacks targeting Russian military personnel and officials, including senior officers killed in car bombings and explosions. On Aug. 13, Russian Navy Captain 1st Rank Robert Shageev was killed in an explosion in Sevastopol. Before Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, Shageev had served in the Ukrainian Navy and commanded Ukraine’s only submarine, the Zaporizhzhia. He later joined the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Similar attacks have previously targeted Russian military figures in the Moscow region. In April 2025, Russian General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the General Staff’s Main Operational Directorate, was killed by a car bomb in Balashikha, near Moscow. Ukrainian officials subsequently indicated that Ukrainian intelligence had carried out the operation. Another car bombing in April 2025 killed Yevgeny Rytikov, a senior engineer involved in developing Russia’s Krasukha electronic warfare systems. Ukrainian intelligence sources neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack. The campaign has also extended to Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, where Ukrainian partisans and intelligence-linked operations have targeted occupation officials and military personnel. In November 2023, a series of attacks killed Russian-backed officials and military personnel, including a car bombing that killed Moscow-installed Luhansk security official Mikhail Filiponenko. More recently, an explosion at Moscow’s Balzi Rossi restaurant on Aug. 1 killed five people and injured at least 19. The intended target may have been Russian Aerospace Forces Commander-in-Chief General Alexander Chaiko. Chaiko was attending a private birthday celebration at the restaurant. His possible involvement in the attack on Bucha during Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has made him a target of Ukrainian accusations of war crimes. The general’s fate following the explosion remained unclear, with conflicting reports about whether he survived. Russian authorities have not provided definitive information about his condition. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.