Russian General Alexander Chayko appears to have been the target of the Moscow restaurant bombing. He commanded troops who carried out the Bucha massacre in Ukraine.

An explosion tore through a Moscow restaurant on August first, killing three people and injuring more than twenty during what appears to have been a birthday celebration for a senior Russian general. Meduza reports the device was carried in by a courier, who died in the blast along with a security guard who had tried to keep her out. The apparent target was Colonel General Alexander Chayko, head of Russia's Aerospace Forces, who had turned fifty-five days earlier — a sign reading 'Alexander, 55' was visible on the restaurant's stage. Chayko commanded the Russian offensive on Kyiv in twenty twenty-two, when troops under his command carried out the killings in Bucha and nearby towns, and he's under UK and EU sanctions over an earlier command in Syria. As Meduza notes, Ukrainian authorities have not commented on the explosion or any possible role in it.

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