What We Know About the Deadly Moscow Restaurant Attack

At least three people were killed and 21 injured after a bomb carried by a woman exploded outside an upscale restaurant in central Moscow on Saturday evening, authorities said.

Authorities have described the incident as a terrorist attack, but have yet to say who the intended target was.

Reports suggested the attack may have been connected to the war in Ukraine and that the newly appointed commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, was expected to celebrate his birthday at the restaurant.

Here is what we know so far:

What happened?

The explosion occurred just before 8:00 p.m. close to Balzi Rossi, an upscale Italian restaurant located in one of Moscow’s seven Stalin-era skyscrapers at Kudrinskaya Ploshchad, the police said.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the woman was attempting to enter the restaurant with a homemade explosive device and identified her as the suspected perpetrator of the attack.

The woman was killed in the blast together with a security guard who stopped her from entering. The guard reportedly decided to inspect the package disguised as a gift, which then exploded.

According to preliminary reports, the attacker was likely unaware she was carrying a bomb, the newspaper Kommersant said.

On Sunday, the death toll from the explosion rose to five, according to the Telegram channel 112, pro-Kremlin broadcaster Ren TV and the newspaper Izvestia, media outlets believed to be close to the security services.

The Russian Embassy in Italy on Monday also put the number of killed at five.

The blast was equivalent to one kilogram of TNT and the device was packed with metal balls, Kommersant reported, adding that the explosion was so powerful that the attacker’s remains were found 15 meters from the blast site.

What do officials say?

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 for it.

The Russian Embassy in Italy blamed Ukraine for the attack, saying that “the bloody tentacles of [President Volodymyr] Zelensky’s terrorist gang have reached an Italian restaurant in Moscow.”

“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,” the embassy said.

Neither President Vladimir Putin nor his spokesman Dmitry Peskov have commented on the attack.

Ukrainian authorities have also not commented.

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Who was targeted?

Reports said that the restaurant was hosting a birthday celebration for Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, who turned 55 on July 27, as well as his appointment as the commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces.

A sign reading “Alexander 55” could be seen on the restaurant’s stage in a video allegedly posted from the event.

Senior officials from the Federal Security Service (FSB), Defense Ministry generals, government officials and lawmakers may have attended the event, said VChK-OGPU, an anonymously run Telegram channel that claims to share insider information from Russia’s security and law enforcement agencies.

Chaiko’s daughter, Maria Chaiko, may have been injured in the explosion, the exiled news outlet Vyorstka reported, citing a source close to the restaurant’s management.

Unverified lists of victims published by Telegram channels also include a 25-year-old woman identified as “Maria P.”, who is reported to have suffered an open traumatic brain injury. The surname appears to correspond to the surname of her husband, Daniil Peredriy. Reports said he may also have been injured in the blast, but no details were provided.

Colonel General Alexander Chaiko.

Chaiko himself was not injured in the explosion, reports said.

Who is General Chaiko?

If confirmed, Chaiko would become one of the highest-ranking Russian generals to be targeted in an apparent assassination attempt since the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

Chaiko was appointed commander of Russia’s Aerospace Forces in May 2026. He has been accused of involvement in the killings of civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha in March 2022, when he served as commander of Russia’s Eastern Military District.

The European Union earlier this year sanctioned Chaiko, whom it described as “the highest-ranking Russian military officer deployed in Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”

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