Russia-Ukraine Conflict Escalates: Car Bomb Kills Top General, Drone Strikes Apartment Building in Ukraine

As Russia continues its bombardment of Ukraine, a car bomb has killed a senior Russian general in Moscow's eastern suburb of Balashikha, in what Russian investigators and Kremlin authorities termed a "terrorist attack." Meanwhile, a drone strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad has killed three people and injured 10 others, leaving a trail of devastation and loss of life.

Key Takeaways:

• A senior Russian general, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, was killed in a car bomb attack in Moscow's eastern suburb of Balashikha, in what Russian investigators and Kremlin authorities called a "terrorist attack."
• The Kremlin swiftly blamed Ukraine for the car bomb, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures to be assassinated since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine.
• A drone strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Pavlohrad killed three people and injured 10 others, leaving a child and a 76-year-old woman among the civilian casualties.
• Russian forces fired 103 Shahed and decoy drones at five Ukrainian regions, Ukraine's air force reported, causing authorities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy and Kharkiv regions to report damage to civilian infrastructure but no casualties.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the site of the deadly Russian attack in Ukraine's capital Kyiv that killed at least 12 people on Thursday, saying Russian forces used the attack on Kyiv as cover to launch almost 150 assaults on Ukrainian positions along the roughly 1,000-km (620-mile) front line.
• President Zelenskyy also stated that components manufactured by US companies were found in a missile used in the Kyiv attack, which Ukraine's government attributed to Russian aggression.
• Ukraine says it will not give up the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, despite US pressure to do so as part of ceasefire talks with Moscow.

Statistics:

• At least 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a Russian attack on Kyiv on Thursday, April 24.
• 103 Shahed and decoy drones were fired by Russian forces at five Ukrainian regions, Ukraine's air force reported.
• 3 people were killed and 10 others were injured in a drone strike on an apartment building in Pavlohrad, southeastern Ukraine.

Sources:

• Al Jazeera, Car bomb kills Russian general in Moscow
• Al Jazeera, Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events on April 25
• Twitter, Zelenskyy's tweet on visiting the site of the deadly Russian attack in Kyiv
• Al Jazeera, Trump says Crimea will stay with Russia, contradicting Zelenskyy's stance