Mike Baker

In other words, we're talking about a man connected to the machinery helping sustain Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Additional reports from Russian telegram channels indicating an improvised explosive device had been planted beneath a vehicle likely containing one pound or so of TNT.

It's worth taking a closer look at who Davidov was.

What's known about him is that he spent decades inside Russia's military establishment.

Public records show he was serving as commander of the Central Test Technical Bureau, attached to the 51st Arsenal of Grau, as far back as 2009, holding the rank of colonel.

A decade later, he appears in official Russian records again, this time as the head of a Grau directorate and a member of a defense ministry delegation visiting Kazakhstan.

These details tell us that Davidov was part of the institutional backbone of Russia's military apparatus, helping oversee organizations tied to the weapons systems that have played a central role, of course, throughout the war.

And that helps answer the obvious question.

Why would someone target him?

If Ukrainian intelligence was behind the bombing, the logic isn't particularly complicated.

We've seen Kiev in recent months show a growing willingness to impose costs on the Kremlin by going after more than tanks or aircraft or ammunition depots.

It's increasingly targeting the people responsible for planning, managing and sustaining Russia's war effort.

Davidov appears to fit within that strategy.

Over the past two years, a growing number of senior Russian military officials have been killed in bombings and covert operations far from the front lines.

In April 2025, the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate

was killed in a car bombing in the same neighborhood where Davidov was targeted this week.

At the end of December, the head of the General Staff's Army Operational Training Directorate was also killed in a similar attack.

And in December of 2024, the commander responsible for Russia's nuclear and chemical defense forces died in an explosion outside a residential building.

Look, that's not just a security problem.

It's a political embarrassment for the Kremlin.