Ukraine-Russia conflict newest: Kyiv claims assassination of Putin’s nuclear normal in Moscow scooter bomb assault
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Ukrainian security services have killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow today, intelligence sources in Kyiv have claimed.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter detonated.
In a statement to the Financial Times, an intelligence source described Kirillov as a “completely legitimate target”.
He was sanctioned by Britain in October for his battlefield involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed,” the investigative committee said.
Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.
His death comes a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged him with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine war.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said the Ukrainian leadership faces imminent revenge for the “cowardly and despicable strikes”, the RIA state news agency reported.
Behind enemy lines: Ukraine’s deadly assassins have terrorised Russia with nuclear general their latest victim
Watch: Sir Keir Starmer urges Western allies to ‘double-down’ in support of Ukraine
Russia passes law against ‘foreign agents’
Russia has approved legislation which tightens restrictions on income received by people in Moscow designated as “foreign agents”.
Under Russian law, any person or organisation receiving support from outside Russia must register as a “foreign agent”, allowing Moscow to discredit foreign actors.
The new bill, which requires “foreign agents” to transfer all income from the sale or rental of property and vehicles to special rouble accounts, has passed its third and final reading in the Russian Duma.
They will also be required to transfer any earnings from intellectual activity, including works of science, literature and art, performances and broadcasting, to those accounts, Reuters news agency reported.
Individuals will only regain access to the funds once they are removed from the Justice Ministry’s foreign agents register.
A total of 895 individuals are listed as foreign agents.
Legislation to allow multiple citizenship passes first reading in Kyiv
The Ukrainian parliament has supported legislation allowing multiple citizenship, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said according to The Kyiv Independent.
Current legislation only allows Ukrainians to hold single citizenship. President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted the new bill in August, stressing its importance as part of his internal resilience plan in November.
The bill has passed its first reading with 247 lawmakers in favour. It still must pass a second reading and be signed by the president before it becomes law.
It is seen as part of Ukraine’s effort to strengthen ties with Ukrainians living abroad, with Mr Zelensky saying it will allow ethnic Ukrainians born abroad to obtain citizenship.
Report: Nuclear bunker sales increase, despite expert warnings they aren’t going to provide protection
When Bernard Jones Jr. and his wife, Doris, built their dream home, they didn’t hold back. A grotto swimming pool with a waterfall for hot summer days. A home theater for cozy winter nights. A fruit orchard to harvest in fall. And a vast underground bunker in case disaster strikes.
“The world’s not becoming a safer place,” he said. “We wanted to be prepared.”
Under a nondescript metal hatch near the private basketball court, there’s a hidden staircase that leads down into rooms with beds for about 25 people, bathrooms and two kitchens, all backed by a self-sufficient energy source.
With water, electricity, clean air and food, they felt ready for any disaster, even a nuclear blast, at their bucolic home in California’s Inland Empire.
Read the full piece:
Watch: Russian police spokesman shares more details on General Igor Kirillov’s death
Russian spies caught in locations with F-16 jets, Ukraine says
Ukraine’s security service says it has uncovered 12 agents spying for Russia on locations which host F-16 fighter jets and air defence systems across Ukraine.
The SBU security service said on the Telegram messenger app that it had detained the “biggest network of agents” in Ukraine’s north and south.
Report: Grassroots funding for Ukraine’s military declines as groups looks for creative ways to raise money
The concert took place in an old movie studio in Kyiv, the location kept secret until the final moment in case it was the target of a Russian attack.
More than 1,000 soldiers and young people gathered to listen to the artists who joined forces with a military brigade in an innovative effort to raise funds for Ukraine’s embattled troops.
This was the first and only live performance of the charity album “Epoch,” a collaboration between the 3rd Assault Brigade and eight Ukrainian bands.
The project’s ambitious target is to raise 50 million hryvnias (about $1.2 million) to buy an M113 armored personnel carrier to help get infantry to the front and evacuate the wounded for medical treatment. Since it launched on streaming platforms a month ago, the initiative has raised 9 million hryvnias (around $214,000).
Read the full report:
Zelensky calls for strong action on Russia’s shadow fleet
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on allies to help in “protecting nature” after “yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia”.
In a post on X, he said: “Our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia. But there are even larger and more dangerous Russian tankers operating in your seas. Stopping this fleet is not just about cutting off Russia’s war funding – it’s about protecting nature.
“I urge everyone to take even stronger action. Ensure these shadow tanker fleet and other Russian vessels, including those transporting weapons, can no longer operate in European waters.”
The statement came soon after the UK announced sanctions on 20 Russian shadow fleet ships.
Source: independent.co.uk
