A high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces and his assistant have been killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security service according to a Ukrainian Source.
Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was outside a residential block early on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.
A source in Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed Kirillov was “a legitimate target” and alleging he had carried out war crimes.
On Monday, the SBU charged Kirillov 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.
Pictures from the scene showed the badly damaged entrance to a building with scorch marks on the walls and a number of windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.
The block was cordoned off on Tuesday morning as Russian investigators continued combing the area.
In October, the UK placed sanctions on Kirillov, saying he had overseen the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and acted as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.
Ukraine’s SBU has claimed Russia used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.
Moscow denies the allegations.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had “opened a criminal case into the murder of two servicemen”.
Russian state news agencies reported the explosive device – which killed 54-year-old Kirillov and his aide in Ryazansky Avenue in the south-east of the city – had an explosive force equivalent to 300g of TNT.
They added that bomb experts and specialist search dogs had inspected the surrounding area and no other explosives had been found.
Experts have told BBC Verify that having looked at images from the scene it appears the explosion was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a type of homemade bomb which usually contains easily obtainable components, such as nails or glass.
