Russian military officer killed in car blast in St Petersburg, murder investigation opened

A Russian serviceman was killed in a car explosion in St Petersburg, Russia, on Thursday. The local office of the Investigative Committee said the cause had not yet been established and that a murder investigation into the serviceman's death has been launched.

In a press release, the committee said the serviceman died as a result of a car explosion in the Pushkinsky district of St Petersburg. His rank has not been officially disclosed.

The committee said on Telegram that investigators and forensic experts, together with operational officers, are examining the scene and that a number of necessary forensic tests are being ordered, with all the circumstances of what happened being clarified.

Russian media reported that the explosion took place in the settlement of Shushary on Kolpinskoye Highway. They said the man killed was a colonel in the Russian armed forces and chief navigator of the 6th Air and Air Defence Army.

According to Russian media, the serviceman was alone and driving the car when it exploded. The explosive device had been attached to the underside of the car and was detonated remotely as he was leaving a courtyard. He died at the scene, and the moment of the blast was captured by an intercom camera.

The report said the blast comes as Moscow accuses Kyiv of carrying out a series of killings of Russian military personnel since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

The Ukrainian armed forces have claimed responsibility for some of the killings, while remaining silent about others. The attacks have involved booby-trapped cars, explosives hidden in scooters and shootings.

Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for such attacks on Russian troops, but Ukrainian forces have previously used similar blasts to show that Russia's security services are vulnerable.

Earlier, on 27 August 2026, in the Slavyanka district of the same settlement, a lieutenant colonel, also from the air and air defence forces, was blown up together with his wife. Both lost their legs. The lieutenant colonel died at the scene, while his wife was saved by doctors.

At the time, a 24-year-old Russian woman who had left for Turkey after the explosion was suspected of planting the bomb. Law enforcement agencies did not officially comment on the progress of the investigation and did not release the victim's name or other details.

The man killed in August was reported to be 43-year-old Sergei Sechkov, who served in the 332nd Separate Guards Helicopter Regiment. His father confirmed to the independent Russian outlet Agentstvo that his son had died in the blast.