‘Sabotage’: Russian general shot in Moscow amid Ukraine ceasefire talks

London: A senior Russian general has been shot in Moscow by an unidentified gunman during a key stage in ceasefire talks over the war in Ukraine, sparking fears it could sabotage a potential agreement.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, who has been sanctioned by western governments for his suspected involvement in poisonings and cybercrime, was shot six times near an apartment building and rushed to hospital.

A key aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the general was part of the leadership group that planned the full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago and helped the Russian president put down a rebellion by Wagner Group chief Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023.

Alekseyev was born near Vinnytsia in Ukraine when the country was part of the Soviet Union, and he joined the military and moved to Russia in the 1980s. He transferred to military intelligence and was sanctioned by the United States over hacking attempts during the 2016 presidential election, and sanctioned by the European Union over the poisoning of Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed Ukraine for the attempted assassination and claimed it was designed to sabotage the peace talks.

The shooting came a day after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met US officials in Abu Dhabi to discuss a potential ceasefire. The Russian delegation was led by Igor Kostyukov, the head of Russian military intelligence and Alekseyev’s commanding officer.

US President Donald Trump has sought to get a peace deal on Ukraine but has shifted his stance several times on whether Ukraine could win the war. He scaled back funding for military support last year, expecting European nations to pay for weapons and missile defence systems made in America.

Trump sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to the talks.

The chief negotiator for Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, was positive about the talks before news of the attempted assassination in Moscow.

“The discussions were substantive and productive, focusing on concrete steps and practical solutions,” Umerov said on social media on Wednesday, the first day of the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was cautious about any results from the peace talks.

“What can already be said is that further meetings are planned in the near future, likely in the United States,” he said on Thursday, one day before the shooting.

“We are ready for all workable formats that can genuinely bring peace closer and make it reliable, lasting, and such that deprives Russia of any appetite to continue the war.

“It is crucial that this war ends in a way that leaves Russia with no reward for its aggression. This is one of the key principles that restore and guarantee real security.”

Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian targets this week with 32 ballistic missiles from Monday to Tuesday, despite claims from Trump that Putin had agreed to suspend attacks for a week.

Drones and glide bombs were used in an overnight attack from Thursday to Friday in the Dnipro region, killing one person and injuring two others. Early on Friday, a Russian aerial attack on the southern Zaporizhzhia region injured eight people and damaged 18 apartment blocks.

The Russian missiles and drones have struck energy systems across Ukraine during one of the coldest times of the year, with temperatures falling to around minus 20 degrees Celsius.

The attacks continued on Friday morning (late on Friday night AEDT) across Ukraine as alarms sounded in Kyiv and other cities.

“We fight every day so that darkness loses. So it’s important for us to have enough air defense for safe sky,” Zelensky said on Friday.

“It is important for us to support our people and recover after strikes. It is important for us to achieve a dignified peace and reliable security guarantees.”

Zelensky confirmed there were further attacks on energy systems and logistics.

“The situation remains difficult in Kyiv, where more than 1200 buildings in different districts of the capital are without heating,” he said on social media.

“I consider the performance of the Air Force in some regions of Ukraine to be unsatisfactory.”

The attempted assassination in Moscow is the latest example of an attack on a Russian military leader. In December, a car bomb killed Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces’ General Staff.

In April, another senior Russian military officer, Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed in his car parked near his apartment building just outside Moscow. A Russian man who previously lived in Ukraine pleaded guilty to carrying out the attack and said that he had been paid by Ukraine’s security services.

In December 2024, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building. Kirillov’s assistant also died. Ukraine’s security service claimed responsibility for the attack.

with wires

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