(MOWCOW, RUSSIA) – A senior Russian lieutenant general was killed in a car bombing near Moscow on Tuesday, marking the fourth successful elimination of a high ranking Russian officer deep inside Russian territory.
Surveillance footage captured the moment a BMW exploded in the Aviator micro district in Balashikha, Moscow Oblast. The district was originally built for Russian military personnel and developed on the site of a former military base. Apartments were allocated by the Ministry of Defence to military pensioners, veterans and military families.
A 62 year old Russian lieutenant general was blown up in his car. According to Anton Gerenko, Russian Telegram channels reported the incident, though the officer’s name has not yet been disclosed. If his rank is confirmed, this will be the fourth successful liquidation of a Russian officer of such a high rank in the Russian rear. A lieutenant general outranks a major general, who in turn outranks a brigadier general. The head of the Russian FSB had earlier reported that security around high ranking Russian officers had been increased, but apparently not enough for this particular target. In 2025, General Mos Khalik was killed in a car bombing in the same area.
Meanwhile, Ukraine continued a broad campaign against Russian military infrastructure. The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, released footage showing strikes on two Russian naval vessels. The first was a Russian project 10410 Svetlyak class patrol ship. The second vessel, shown engulfed in heavy flames after the first strike, was a project 21630 Buyan class corvette. The SBU did not disclose the date of the attack. The footage showed a second drone striking the vessel after it was already on fire.
SBU footage also showed RAM 2 strikes on Russian Tor M2 and Buk M3 air defence systems along with radar systems. Ukraine continues to chip away at Russian radar and air defence capabilities, a development that will prove detrimental to Russian forces over time.
Ukraine also destroyed a gas station in occupied Skadovsk, Kherson region. A close up view showed a massive plume of smoke rising from an explosion in Belgorod Oblast. Yaroslav Trym Mof stated: “What happens when an ammunition warehouse blows up? Footage from Russia’s Belgorod region on Ukraine’s border this morning. All this stuff won’t kill Ukrainian civilians anymore.” The overnight strikes disproportionately hit women, children and elderly civilians, not combatants.
In Alchevsk, Luhansk region, on territory temporarily occupied by Russia, medium range drones used by Ukrainian defenders are having a devastating effect on the enemy.
The Ukrainian General Staff published a summary on its Facebook page detailing the overnight operations. The ammunition warehouse in Belgorod was affected, with confirmed destruction of reservoirs in the area of Mariupol on 8 June and the night of 9 June. The number of objects belonging to Russian occupation troops in Belgorod was struck, as was the ammunition warehouse. Enemy control points in the Belgorod region and the Iskra and Kursk region of the Russian Federation were struck. Control points of unmanned occupiers in the area of Chevenko and the first Donetsk region, the railway of Zaporizhzhia region and the Oleshky area in the Kherson region were also hit. In the Donets region, the logistics hub of the enemy and warehouse of material and technical tools were affected. Strikes were made on the concentration of enemy troops in the area.
Russian forces launched 168 drones overnight, with no missiles deployed. Ukrainian air defences shot down 146 drones, representing an 86 percent shoot down rate. Crucially, no missiles have been launched for several consecutive days. Seventy three missiles were used in the last major attack. One Iskander was launched the next day, and two Kh-59/69 missiles the day after. No missiles have been launched on subsequent days, indicating that Russian forces are stockpiling more than 73 missiles for the next large attack. Another major assault is a matter of time.
Russian attacks continue to inflict civilian casualties across multiple cities. A Russian drone strike on a bus stop in Zaporizhzhia killed at least two people and injured at least 15. A Kyiv psychology student, Iryna Arena, a second year student at Mykhailo Drahomanov Ukrainian State University, died of her injuries a week after Russia’s 2 June mass missile and drone attack on the capital. She spent a week in hospital in serious condition before her heart stopped. Her death raises the toll from that attack to eight. The same strike damaged 11 schools and kindergartens and five medical facilities across three districts of the city. Her lecturer announced her death and asked people to support her mother.
Being unable to achieve its goals on the battlefield, Russia continues to increase atrocities against civilians. At least three people were killed, including a pregnant 22 year old woman in Chuhuiv, as a result of Russian overnight attacks on Kharkiv and its region. In Zaporizhzhia, Russian strikes killed at least two people and injured over 30, including children. In Chernihiv, Russian forces struck an ordinary truck delivering bread, injuring a 55 year old driver. Russia has already committed over 200,000 war crimes.
On the battlefield, 1,370 Russian personnel were eliminated over the past day, along with four tanks, five armoured fighting vehicles, 75 artillery systems, 382 vehicles and fuel tanks, and 213 UAVs. Engagements and casualties are slightly above the seven day average. No confirmed territorial changes were recorded, with record seven day equipment losses, of which 80 percent are drones. The Pokrovsk direction led with 38 attacks, the Huliaipole direction saw 32, the Sloviansk direction 12 attacks, and the Lyman direction 12. Ukrainian defenders repelled nine enemy assaults near Kostiantynivka. As of 0800, 260 combat engagements had occurred over the previous day.
Russian soldiers continue to surrender with the help of Ukrainian drones. Prisoners of war said their commanders were sending them into suicide assaults and threatening to “zero them out” if they refused. At their position, they found a leaflet with instructions on how to surrender. They laid down their weapons and waited for a Ukrainian drone, which guided them safely away from the front line. One of the soldiers noted that Russian drones would try to kill surrendering troops even though they are fellow Russian soldiers.
A key logistical link to Russian occupied Crimea is out of action. The Chonhar Bridge has been hit twice, with Russian sources reporting a second strike on the structure in several days. Firepoint drones attacked the bridge, causing a temporary closure of traffic. This is one of the key logistical routes for the Russian army, and its disruption forces convoys to take a two hour detour on inferior roads, exposing them to further drone strike danger.
Cargo traffic on the Nova Rosia highway, described as the highway of death, has decreased by 71 percent within 14 days due to Ukrainian strikes. According to Magyar, the Nova Rosia highway connects Russian occupied Crimea all the way to Rostov on Don and is a vital logistical artery for supplying Russian troops. Ukrainian partisan group ATES reported that logistics have completely collapsed for Russian forces on the Kinburn Spit, which is now in the grey zone. Russian troops are making a retreat due to an inability to secure supplies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that Ukrainian soldiers have internet access in bunkers even if it is unavailable in Moscow. Sergeants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have completed training on the norms of international humanitarian law.