Russia's Investigative Committee said on Friday, November 13, that it had opened an investigation into the explosion of a car in Moscow that Russian media reported belonged to an exiled Ukrainian political aide, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters, Nov 13, 2026

Russian media reported the car belonged to Sergei Zavorotniy, a onetime spokesman for former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who has been living in Russia since fleeing Ukraine amid anti-government protests in 2014. The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Zavorotniy was hospitalised.

Russian media reports on the scene said the blast happened this morning in Moscow's Chertanovo district, where a Toyota exploded while driving on Kirovogradskaya Street. The driver reportedly survived, bystanders gave first aid and he was taken away by ambulance; reports said an explosive device had been planted on the driver's side. Those scene details are Russian media reports and have not been independently confirmed.

Second car bomb in two days

It is the second car bombing in Russia in two days. On Thursday, a member of the Russian military was killed after the car he was driving was blown up in St Petersburg, investigators said, in what appeared to be the latest in a series of targeted killings that Russia has blamed on Ukraine.

Source: Reuters, Nov 12, 2026

Referring to Thursday's St Petersburg killing, the online newspaper Fontanka reported that a 31-year-old male suspect who has since fled Russia planted the bomb on the underside of a colonel's car after at least a month of surveillance. Reuters said it could not independently verify Fontanka's information, and neither the soldier's identity nor the suspect's has been confirmed by official sources.

What is not yet known

No one has publicly claimed responsibility for Friday's Moscow explosion in the reports available so far, and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Thursday's St Petersburg killing either. Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility for some previous attacks inside Russia and denied others.

What happens next will turn on the Investigative Committee's findings in Moscow and whether any group or state is formally accused. For now, two car bombs in two Russian cities in two days have again put targeted attacks deep inside Russia at the centre of the war's shadow front.