Three people were killed and 21 wounded Saturday night when a suspected bomb disguised as a gift exploded at the entrance to a luxury Moscow restaurant hosting a heavily guarded private event.
The blast has fueled speculation over who may have been targeted in what appeared to be a planned assassination attempt near the heart of the Russian capital.
Gallery
The entrance to Moscow’s Balzi Rossi restaurant, where the blast occurred. ‘They were celebrating someone from the elite’
(Photo: REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova)
Russian authorities said the dead included an unidentified woman suspected of carrying the device, a security guard who stopped her at the entrance and a guest whose identity has not been released.
Russian media reported that the woman may have been an unwitting courier.
The explosion occurred at about 8:10 p.m. at Balzi Rossi, an Italian restaurant located at the base of the Kudrinskaya Square Building, one of Moscow’s Stalin-era “Seven Sisters” towers and about two kilometers from the Kremlin.
The restaurant said it was hosting a private event, while the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that security was unusually tight.
(Photo: REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova)
According to the newspaper, the woman arrived with a package she described as a gift for one of the guests. A guard became suspicious and began searching her, at which point the device exploded.
Investigators suspect it was detonated remotely. Preliminary evidence reportedly indicates that the courier may not have known what the package contained.
Russian reports said the bomb carried the explosive force of about one kilogram of TNT and contained metal fragments. Witnesses described injured guests being evacuated from the restaurant covered in blood.
פיצוץ מוסקבה רוסיה מסעדה
(Photo: REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova)
“They were celebrating something for someone from the elite,” pro-Kremlin blogger Anastasia Kashevarova wrote.
Russian military bloggers suggested that the event may have been held for Gen. Alexander Chaiko, commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, who turned 55 last week.
The claim has not been independently verified, and there has been no official confirmation that Chaiko attended or was harmed.
Chaiko previously commanded Russian forces that invaded northern Ukraine from Belarus in February 2022 as part of the failed attempt to seize Kyiv. Those forces were linked to alleged war crimes in communities including Bucha.
Ukraine has carried out several high-profile assassinations inside Russia during the war, including attacks targeting senior military officers and pro-Kremlin figures. Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the restaurant explosion.
The event may have been held for Gen. Alexander Chaiko, commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces
(Photo: Savitsky Vadim/Wikipedia)
Hundreds of drones launched at Russia
The Moscow blast came as Ukraine launched another major overnight drone attack across Russia.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces intercepted 635 Ukrainian drones, although it was unclear how many were launched in total.
Footage from Russia after a Ukranian drone attack
Ukrainian reports said another logistics facility belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s leading online retailer and a local equivalent of Amazon, was struck in the Samara region, about 900 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Footage showed a huge plume of smoke rising from the site.
Authorities in the neighboring Saratov region reported two deaths in the drone attacks but did not specify what had been hit.
Russia, meanwhile, continued its own strikes on Ukrainian cities. Ten people were killed Saturday in a major missile and drone attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region.
Ukraine said Russia launched 35 missiles and 185 drones. Its air defenses intercepted 154 drones but only two ballistic missiles, underscoring Kyiv’s shortage of advanced interception systems.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pressed Western allies for additional Patriot air-defense systems and permission to manufacture interceptors domestically.
But U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to retreat from granting such a license after meeting Zelensky at the White House last week.
“We have not agreed to that,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David. “We’re talking about it, but it’s difficult to give that kind of technology. These are incredible weapons, and we have to be very careful about allowing someone to build them.”