Car Bomb Kills Russian Colonel in St. Petersburg, Local Media Say

Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a murder case after a serviceman died in a car explosion on Kolpinskoye Highway in St. Petersburg’s Pushkinsky District early on Thursday.

The city’s investigative directorate said specialists were examining the scene and ordering tests. It did not name the officer or give his rank.

Fontanka, citing a source, reported that the driver was a colonel and died at the scene. The St. Petersburg television channel 78.ru, also citing a source, said he was a colonel in the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army.

Lenta, citing 78.ru, reported that he was the army’s chief navigator. 78.ru’s own dispatches identified his rank and unit but did not use that title. His name has not been released.

Device Detonated as Officer Left

78.ru said an explosive device had been attached under the vehicle and was detonated remotely as the colonel drove out of a residential courtyard. Witnesses told the channel the blast occurred around 7 a.m. near a Lenta supermarket and a Tatneft fuel station in the Slavyanka microdistrict of Shushary.

Fontanka first reported that a relative was in the car and had been injured. It later said the passenger seat was empty and that a camera showed the officer leaving a building alone before the device went off. The explosion itself was also captured on video.

Security services were searching for a person who may have planted the improvised explosive, Fontanka reported. Investigators, police and bomb-disposal officers worked behind a cordon, and traffic on the highway was halted.

Second Attack in the Same District

The bombing was the second near-identical attack in Slavyanka in under three months. On Aug. 27, a car exploded on the same highway, killing a lieutenant colonel from the air force and air defense forces and injuring his wife, Fontanka and Reuters reported at the time.

The Telegram channel Mash na Moyke said Thursday’s blast was about 500 meters from the August site. In both cases, Russian media said a device attached under the vehicle was set off remotely.

The Insider later identified the August victim as 43-year-old Sergei Sechkov, after his father confirmed the death to the independent outlet Agentstvo. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for that attack.

No Claim of Responsibility

No one had claimed responsibility for Thursday’s explosion, and there was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

Lenta noted that Russia’s Defense Ministry has bought apartments in Slavyanka for contract officers.

Targeted attacks on Russian officers have also reached Moscow. A car bomb in a southern Moscow courtyard killed a senior General Staff officer in December 2025, and Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, a deputy head of military intelligence, was shot at his Moscow apartment building in February.