Moscow restaurant bombing kills three, targets air force chief

A bombing at a Moscow restaurant on Saturday evening killed three people and wounded 21 others. "A homemade explosive device blew up at a restaurant in Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow, killing three people," the national anti-terrorism committee said, according to the Tass state news agency.

The casualties included a woman who brought the device into the venue, a security agent who stopped her, and a restaurant customer. Images on Russian Telegram channels showed fire engines and ambulances stationed outside the building as Moscow police and forensic specialists arrived to investigate.

The location had been booked for a private birthday party. Reports indicate that Alexandre Tchaïko, the commander of the Russian Air Force, was present at the event. The Baza Telegram channel, which is known for its ties to Russian security forces, initially circulated reports of a kitchen gas explosion before the official bombing confirmation.

For European policymakers and defence industries, this attack reinforces a critical strategic reality: the Russia-Ukraine conflict is far from a static front-line war. The repeated targeting of senior military leadership inside the Russian capital points to a deepening intelligence war. This ongoing instability is a primary driver of Europe's accelerated defence spending and its shift in public security postures.

The incident is the latest in a series of assassinations and attempted killings of Russian military officers and prominent nationalist figures since 2022. Ukraine's secret service has been accused of or claimed responsibility for many of these operations. In April 2025, Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for a car bomb that killed senior general Yaroslav Moskalik.

In December 2024, General Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division, and his assistant were killed by a bomb attached to a scooter outside a Moscow apartment block. In April 2023, pro-Kremlin military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky died when an explosive hidden inside a handed statuette detonated in a Saint Petersburg cafe.

Other attacks include the May 2023 car bombing near Nizhny Novgorod that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed another person. In August 2022, Darya Dugina, the daughter of hardline ideologue Alexander Dugin, was killed by a car bomb outside Moscow, an attack widely believed to have actually targeted her father.