Woman bomber targets Italian restaurant in Moscow, killing security guard and herself

A powerful explosion outside an upscale Italian restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening has killed at least five people and injured 21 others, in what Russian authorities have described as a terrorist attack that may have been intended to assassinate a newly appointed senior military commander. The blast occurred shortly before 8pm near Balzi Rossi, an upmarket establishment located in one of Moscow's seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, with Russia's National Anti-Terrorism Committee identifying the suspected perpetrator as a woman carrying a homemade explosive device. Reports indicate that the woman was killed in the detonation alongside a security guard who had prevented her from entering the restaurant; the guard, it is understood, had attempted to inspect the package, which had been disguised as a gift, at which point the device exploded. The blast, equivalent to approximately one kilogram of TNT and packed with metal balls, was so powerful that the attacker's remains were reportedly found 15 metres from the site.

The attack is believed to have been linked to the war in Ukraine, with reports suggesting that the intended target may have been Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, who had recently been appointed commander of Russia's Aerospace Forces and was due to celebrate his 55th birthday at the restaurant on Saturday evening. A sign reading "Alexander 55" was visible on the restaurant's stage in a video purportedly posted from the event, while senior officials from the Federal Security Service, Defence Ministry generals, government officials and lawmakers may have been in attendance, according to the anonymously run Telegram channel VChK-OGPU. Chaiko himself was not injured in the explosion, reports said, but his daughter, Maria Chaiko, may have been among those hurt, according to the exiled news outlet Vyorstka, citing a source close to the restaurant's management. Unverified lists of victims published on Telegram channels included a 25-year-old woman identified as "Maria P." who was said to have suffered a traumatic brain injury, with reports also indicating that her husband, Daniil Peredriy, may have been injured in the blast.

The Russian Embassy in Italy has blamed Ukraine for the attack, stating that "the bloody tentacles of [President Volodymyr] Zelensky's terrorist gang have reached an Italian restaurant in Moscow" and that "it is clear that by planning a terrorist attack at one of Moscow's best Italian restaurants, Kyiv terrorists sought to intimidate Italians working in Russia, showing them that they too are targets and could at any moment become the next victims of these criminals." Neither President Vladimir Putin nor his spokesman Dmitry Peskov has commented on the attack, while Ukrainian authorities have also not issued any response. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Sunday offered his condolences to the families of those killed and called the blast "a brutal terrorist attack," without specifying who was responsible.

If confirmed, the targeting of Chaiko would mark one of the highest-profile assassination attempts against a Russian general since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Chaiko, who was appointed to lead Russia's Aerospace Forces in May 2026, has been accused of involvement in the killings of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in March 2022, during his tenure as commander of Russia's Eastern Military District. The European Union earlier this year sanctioned Chaiko, describing him as "the highest-ranking Russian military officer deployed in Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion." The explosion, which sent shockwaves through the Russian capital, has raised further questions about security in Moscow and the vulnerability of senior military figures to attack, even as Russian authorities have yet to confirm the precise details of the plot or its perpetrators.