The number of victims of the mysterious explosion at the elite Moscow restaurant “Balzi Rossi“ is increasing.
New revelations in Russian state registers show that another close relative of the commander-in-chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), Colonel General Alexander Chaiko, has died as a result of her serious injuries. The Verstka news agency, quoted by a number of independent media outlets such as “Meduza“, reported on Saturday that the woman is 30-year-old Yulia Kirilova. She is the wife of Daniil Kirilov, who is the nephew of the general's wife Chaiko.
The incident, described by the mayor of the Russian capital Sergei Sobyanin as a terrorist act, occurred on the evening of August 1 during a private party in honor of the general's 55th birthday. Then a female courier tried to bring in a homemade explosive device disguised as a gift, which exploded at the entrance. According to initial data from law enforcement publications on Telegram, Yulia was admitted to hospital with “multiple wounds to the chest and abdomen“. A check of official state registers shows that Kirillova died on August 4, three days after the fatal explosion.
The black statistics for the family of General Chaiko
The journalistic investigation by „DV“ (Deutsche Welle) and „The Insider“ (The Insider) confirms the presence of at least six family members and friends of the top Russian commander at the time of the attack. In addition to Kirillova, the explosion killed General Chaiko's son-in-law - Daniil Peredry, as well as his colleague Major General Valery Plokhotnyuk. Among the injured and hospitalized are the general's daughter Maria Peredry, another of his nieces - Evdokia Kirillova, and his son-in-law Alexander Peredry. In itself si, General Chaiko was not injured in the attack, Russian sources claim.
Despite the seriousness of the case and the fact that the National Anti-Terrorism Committee of Russia recognized the explosive device as having the equivalent of about one kilogram of TNT, the Russian authorities imposed a complete information blackout. For almost a week now, official institutions in Moscow have refused to comment on the identities of the victims or the potential perpetrators.
Colonel General Alexander Chaiko took over as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Aerospace Forces in May 2026. Before that, he led the Russian group “Iztok“, which at the beginning of the war in Ukraine advanced towards Kiev from the territory of Belarus. Chaiko is included in the sanctions lists of the European Union due to accusations of war crimes and the killing of civilians in Bucha. So far, the Ukrainian authorities have maintained complete silence and have not commented on the incident at the Kudrinskaya Square in Moscow.