Ukraine claims to have killed Russian general Igor Kirillov in Moscow

A senior general of the Russian armed forces and his assistant were killed by Ukrainian security services in Moscow, a Ukrainian source told the BBC.

The Russian Investigative Committee (SK) said that Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), was outside a residential area early Tuesday morning when a device hidden in the scooter explodes remotely.

A source from Ukraine’s SBU security service confirmed Kirillov was a “legitimate target” and accused him of committing war crimes.

On Monday, the SBU charged Kirillov, 54, in absentia, saying on Telegram that he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”.

The Ukrainian government has not yet commented on the general’s death.

Images from the scene in southeast Moscow showed the entrance to a building heavily damaged with scorch marks on the walls and some windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.

The compound was sealed off Tuesday morning as Russian investigators continued to comb the area.

In October, Britain imposed sanctions about Kirillov, saying he oversaw the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and served as a “key mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.

Ukraine’s SBU accused Russia of using chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.

Moscow denies the allegations.

SK said it had “opened a criminal case over the murder of two soldiers”.

“Investigators, forensic experts and law enforcement agencies are working at the scene,” the statement said.

“Investigation operations and search operations are being carried out with the aim of establishing all the circumstances of the crime.”

Russian state news agencies reported that the explosive device – which killed Kirillov and his aide on Ryazansky Avenue – had an explosive force equivalent to 300g (0.7lb) of TNT.

They added that bomb experts and sniffer dogs examined the surrounding area and found no other explosives.

Experts told BBC Verify that judging from images of the scene, it appears the explosion was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).a homemade bomb often contains easily obtained ingredients, such as nails or glass.

Assassinations of high-ranking officials have been carried out in Russia before, but attacks in Moscow are rare.

Liza, who lives a block away from where the explosion occurred, told the BBC that while she was not completely surprised, the killing of Igor Kirillov was a “shocking” development.

“Reading about it on the news is one thing, it feels far away, but when it happens next door, it’s completely different and scary,” she told me.

“Hitherto, [the war] it feels as if it happened a long time ago – now someone is dead, here, you can feel the consequences,” Liza said, adding that “unfortunately, I don’t think things will subside soon.”

Some other locals said they initially thought the loud noise they heard came from a construction site.

Student Mikhail Mashkov, who lives in the building next door, told AFP news agency that he was woken up by a “very loud explosion” and thought “something had fallen at the construction site” before looking outside.

Olga Bogomolova said she thought a container had fallen on the construction site but then realized “it was a very strong explosion”, saw “broken windows” and that it was something else.

People living in the area told the BBC of their deep sense of shock.

Even after nearly three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, for many Muscovites, the war is still something happening far away – something they only see on TV or on their phones. phone.

The killing of a Russian general in Moscow is a sign that this war is very real and very close to home.

Under British sanctions, Kirillov’s assets were frozen and he was banned from traveling.

In May, The US accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a “method of warfare” in Ukraine, in violation of international law prohibiting their use.

State Department officials said Russia used the asphyxiant chloropicrin to gain “battlefield advantages” against Ukraine.

According to the SBU, Russian forces used drones to drop chemical weapons on Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk previously said that more than 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers were treated in hospitals for chemical poisoning during the war and three people died.

The Kremlin denied the allegations at the time, calling them “baseless”.

Kirillov served in various roles in the Russian military related to hazardous materials, including Director General of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces.

He was appointed head of NBC in 2017.

Reacting to Kirillov’s death, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “It is clear that we will not mourn the death of an individual who propagated an illegal and causing suffering and death to the Ukrainian people.”

Ukraine’s Security Service appears to be stepping up its targeting of high-ranking Russian individuals after nearly three years of conflict.

Kirillov’s death comes less than a week after a prominent Russian weapons expert was shot dead near his home in Moscow.

Ukrainian media reported that the assassination of Mikhail Shatsky was carried out by Ukrainian military intelligence.

Senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian prison boss Sergei Yevsyukov also died after car bombs exploded in Russian-occupied Ukraine in recent weeks.