A high-ranking Russian general was assassinated on Tuesday by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security agency filed criminal charges against him. A Kiev official claimed that the country’s security service carried out the attack.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the nuclear, biological, and chemical defense forces, died on his way to his office. His assistant also died in the explosion.
Who was Igor Kirillov?
Kirillov, 54, was sanctioned by several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his role in the Moscow war in Ukraine. On the eve, the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of ordering the use of prohibited chemical weapons.
An SBU official said that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, described Kirillov as a "war criminal and a completely legitimate target."
The SBU stated that it had recorded more than 4,800 uses of chemical weapons by Russia on the battlefield since the beginning of the large-scale invasion in February 2022. In May, the United States Department of State claimed in a statement that it had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a chemical weapon first used in World War I, against Ukrainian troops.
Russia has denied the use of any chemical weapons in Ukraine and, in turn, has accused Kiev of using toxic agents in combat.
Kirillov, who has held the position since 2017, was one of the most prominent figures in making those accusations. He held numerous press conferences to accuse the Ukrainian army of using toxic agents and planning attacks with radioactive substances, claims that Kiev and its Western allies rejected and labeled as propaganda.
How was the attack on Kirillov?
The bomb used in Tuesday's attack was remotely activated, according to the Russian press. Images from the scene showed shattered windows and charred bricks.
The Ukrainian SBU official provided images that, he said, corresponded to the attack. They show two men leaving a building just before an explosion fills the frame.
The main state investigative agency in Russia said it is treating Kirillov's death as a case of terrorism, and authorities in Moscow promised to punish Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, vice president of the Security Council of Russia — which is led by the president, Vladimir Putin —, described the attack as an attempt by Kiev to distract public attention from its military failures and promised that its "high political-military officials will face inevitable punishment."
During the past year, Russia has been on the offensive in the war in Ukraine, advancing further into the eastern region of Donetsk despite heavy casualties. Ukraine attempted to change the dynamics with an incursion into the border region of Kursk, but has continued to slowly lose ground in its own territory.