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.
Two injured in Russian strike on civilian car, says Ukraine
Two people have been injured after Russia struck a civilian car in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, the region’s military administration said.
Russian forces dropped explosives on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), injuring a 51-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman.
The pair were both diagnosed with blast and craniocerebral injuries, concussion and shrapnel wounds. They have been taken to hospital for treatment, according to Ukrainska Pravda.
Watch: Aftermath as Russian general killed in Moscow explosion
Ukrainian leadership faces imminent revenge – Medvedev
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and former president of Russia, said the Ukrainian leadership faces imminent revenge for killing a top Russian general, according to RIA state news agency.
“Realising the inevitability of its military defeat, it launches cowardly and despicable strikes in peaceful cities,” Medvedev said.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine has claimed Kyiv was responsible for the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops.
Watch live: Police swarm Moscow after Russian general killed in Ukraine-claimed attack
Electric scooter fitted with bomb pictured at site of Moscow assassination
Who was Igor Kirillov, senior Russian general killed by bombing in Moscow?
Ukraine responsible for Moscow killing, claims intelligence source
Ukraine was behind the killing of Russian commander Igor Kirillov, an intelligence source in Kyiv has told the Financial Times.
The source said the SBU, Ukraine’s security service, was behind the killing and his assistant. The source said the general “was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target”.
In pictures: Civilians gather around site of Russian commander explosion
Source: independent.co.uk