Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, died from his injuries, Svetlana Petrenko, official spokesperson for Russia's Investigative Committee said.
"Investigators are pursuing numerous lines of inquiry regarding the murder. One of these is that the crime was orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence services," Petrenko said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been immediately informed about Sarvarov's killing.
The Defence Ministry said Sarvarov had previously fought in Chechnya and taken part in Moscow's military campaign in Syria.
Russian news outlets reported the car exploded in a parking lot on Moscow's Yaseneva Street with the driver inside.
Ukraine's security service claimed responsibility for a similar attack against a high-ranking Russian soldier in December 2024.
Igor Kirillov, the chief of the military's nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building a day after Kyiv levelled criminal charges against him. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, was also killed.
Putin described Kirillov's killing as a "major blunder" by Russia's security agencies, noting they should learn from it and improve their efficiency.
But in April, another senior Russian military officer, 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 to his apartment building just outside Moscow. A suspected perpetrator was quickly arrested.
Moscow has blamed Ukraine for several bombings and other attacks in Russia.
16°C