Moscow bomb kills pro-Putin collaborator as Ukraine strikes energy plants – latest

Below, we have a picture of the aftermath of an explosion at the Alye Parusa luxury residential complex in northwest Moscow.

It is taken from a video released by Russia’s investigative committee.

A pro-Russian collaborator and one of his bodyguards is believed to have been killed by the blast.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

Mr Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible and said he is ready to meet with Putin. Mr Putin congratulated Mr Trump on his election and stated he is ready to meet the US leader to discuss Ukraine and energy.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied any direct contact with the US about preparations for a phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Putin, which would precede an eventual meeting later this year.

However, senior Russian officials have visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, according to the Russian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

One source said there was still some opposition to the idea in Russia as some diplomats and intelligence officials were pointing to the close military and security links that both the Kingdom and the UAE have with the United States.

The pro-Russian Ukrainian collaborator who was seriously injured in an explosion in northwest Moscow this morning has died, Russian state media site Tass has reported.

Pro-Russian separatist Armen Sarkisyan has reportedly lost a leg and is being rushed into surgery after being caught up in an explosion in northwest Moscow.

There are varying accounts of Mr Sarkisyan’s injuries but Russian state media Tass reports that the figure is in intensive care and is being prepared for surgery.

Ukrainian defences shot down 2,800 missiles and drones fired by Russia in January, Kyiv’s defence ministry has claimed.

We have been reporting that an explosion in a luxury residential complex in northwest Moscow, described by Russian state media as an “assassination”, has seriously wounded a senior pro-Putin Ukrainian collaborator.

The figure in question, Armen Sarkisyan, from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, is a known close associate of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician who was ousted in 2014 following a pro-democracy movement. He later fled to Russia.

In December 2024, Ukraine’s security services (SBU) notified Mr Sarkisyan in absentia that he was being investigated for forming combat units to fight against Ukraine and assisting Russia.

In a statement on Telegram, the SBU wrote: “Comprehensive measures are underway to find and punish the perpetrator for crimes against our state.”

Below, we have some bullet-pointed information on Mr Sarkisyan.

• The SBU alleged Mr Sarkisyan formed the “Arbat” Separate Guards Special Purpose Battalion to fight against Ukraine after the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
• He reportedly recruited prisoners from the occupied Donetsk region to make up the battalion, under the instruction of the FSB, Russia’s security services.
• These forces fought first in Toretsk, Donetsk, and then in Kursk, the Russian border region partially controlled by Ukraine since last August.
• Mr Sarkisyan has been on Ukraine’s international wanted list since May 2014 for, the SBU says, “organising murders in the centre of Kyiv”.
• During the Euromaidan revolution in 2014, Mr Sarkisyan, who has been described as a crime boss, also allegedly hired pro-government thugs, known as titusky, to harass demonstrators.

The Kremlin, asked on Monday about US president Donald Trump’s remarks that talks and meetings with Russia are scheduled, said that contacts were “apparently planned”, and that Moscow had a planning process.

A Russian energy plant targeted by Ukrainian drones overnight was shut down following warnings of an imminent aerial attack, a local official has claimed.

Igor Babushkin, governor of the Astrakhan region, said the plant, located hundreds of miles from Ukraine and further still from Ukrainian forces, posted a video of him at the facility this morning.

“Having received early signals about the danger of the UAV [Unammed Aerial Vehicles], the enterprise stopped its work,” he said.

The plant, controlled by gas giant Gazprom, is capable of processing around 8,340 metric tons of gas condensate per day.

Unverified videos on social media showed giant flames and black smoke leaping into the night sky above a processing plant, as bystanders expressed shock at the size of the fire.

Ukrainian Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the National Security and Defense Council, said the Astrakhan gas processing plant had been hit.

The crack and the ear-splitting blast – two in a row, then a third – rattle windows and set off car alarms. But, in a city under constant bombardment, a smoker in a doorway tips a little ash and takes another drag.

A hotel receptionist, pooled in lamplight, doesn’t look up from her papers.

While the citizens of Kyiv won’t move for these, the sound of lawnmower engines in the sky will prompt an immediate race to cellars and shelters.

For swarms of Iranian-made Russian Shahed unmanned drones are fired at Ukraine almost every night. They’re about two metres across, delta winged, and carry between 30kg and 50kg of explosive. They are guided by a primitive GPS system and driven by whining two-stroke engines.

Read the special dispatch by our world affairs editor Sam Kiley: