An explosion struck a police patrol car near Moscow’s Savelovsky Station Square around midnight on Tuesday morning, according to local authorities.
Russia’s interior ministry said one police officer was killed and two others injured after an unknown individual approached their vehicle, where an explosion ensued.
“Today, at approximately 12:05 a.m., an unknown individual approached traffic police officers from the North-Eastern District of Moscow’s Internal Affairs Directorate, who were patrolling in a service vehicle near Savelovsky Station Square,” the ministry said in a statement, as reported by Russia’s independent outlet Astra.
In a video shared by Astra showing the aftermath, the car’s windows were shattered, the trunk was open, and dents were visible on the doors. The vehicle, however, was not burned in the explosion.
The ministry initially said efforts were underway to apprehend the suspect, but later confirmed that the suspect had died at the scene.
Russian state media RIA Novosti said Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev had arrived at the scene to inspect the incident.
The police officer killed was identified as Senior Police Lieutenant Denis Bratushchenko, according to Russian Interior Ministry Spokesperson Irina Volk. She said Bratushchenko was 34 years old and joined the Moscow police in March 2019.
The full circumstances surrounding the explosion, such as the bomber’s identity and the motive, remain unclear.
Previous blasts in Moscow
In December 2025, two police officers were also killed in Moscow, with Kyiv later claiming responsibility and saying the two fought and committed war crimes in Ukraine.
On Dec. 24, the two were killed in an overnight explosion in Moscow when they tried to stop a suspect, and a bomb went off as they approached him.
Kyiv Post’s sources in Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) later confirmed the agency was involved in the attack, saying the two killed fought in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs).
The blast took place near where Russia’s Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was killed by an explosive device that had been placed under his parked car just days earlier.
Sarvarov had been the head of the Russian General Staff’s training department.