The general killed on June 9 in an explosion in the Moscow Region town of Balashikha was Lt. Gen. Damir Davydov, the Russian Defense Ministry official responsible for supplying missiles and artillery ammunition to the front lines in Ukraine, The Insider found. According to witnesses, Davydov was still alive immediately after the blast, but unconfirmed reports hold that he died before medics arrived.
The explosion occurred early in the morning of June 9 in the Aviatorov neighborhood. Explosives had been planted under a BMW and detonated shortly after the driver began leaving the parking lot. Davydov lived in Balashikha at 6 Kozheduba St., Apt. 21, in the Aviatorov neighborhood, a few hundred meters from the blast site. According to data obtained by The Insider, Davydov used a BMW X3 SUV with the license plate У028ЕР750.
The Insider understands that the operation was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Davydov was born Feb. 4, 1969, in the closed city of Penza-19, now Zarechny, where his father worked at the Start production association, which until 2002 produced nuclear missiles. The late General Davydov received specialized military-technical training and registered several patents related to rocket engines and artillery ammunition.
In 2009, Davydov headed the Central Testing Technical Bureau, Military Unit 63341, at the 51st Arsenal. In 2017, he was appointed head of the Missile and Ammunition Supply Directorate of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry, known by its Russian acronym GRAU, Military Unit 64176.
Davydov had long been a target of Ukrainian authorities due to his alleged participation in war crimes. According to the Ukrainian database “Book of Executioners,” Davydov was directly involved in planning and organizing Russia’s military invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. His duties included supplying the army with ammunition.
Yesterday’s assassination was the second such incident in the Aviatorov neighborhood. In April 2025, Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff, was killed in an explosion in the same area. The June 9 blast site was about 350 meters from the place where Moskalik's car was blown up.
