Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological, and chemical protection forces, was killed Tuesday, in a bomb attack in Moscow. Sources in Ukrainian security services have confirmed that Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the SBU, was responsible for the assassination.
The explosive device was hidden in an electric scooter and detonated outside an apartment building where Kirillov was exiting. His assistant was also killed in the blast.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, the explosion occurred on Ryazansky Avenue in southeastern Moscow, and investigators have declared it a terrorist attack.
The attack comes a day after Ukraine’s security service levelled criminal charges against Kirillov for allegedly using chemical weapons during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s security services claim to have recorded nearly 5,000 occasions of Russia using chemical weapons on the battlefield since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Kirillov’s killing has been condemned by Russian officials, with Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev vowing a swift response. Ukrainian officials, however, have hailed the assassination as a legitimate targeting of a war criminal.
This brazen attack marks one of the boldest targeted assassinations of a senior Russian military official since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began nearly three years ago.
