The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was killed along with his deputy on Tuesday morning in an explosion in Moscow, the Russian Investigative Committee announced. Ukrainian security sources told CBS News that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) killed Kirillov during a special operation. This claim could not be independently verified.
The sources said a scooter loaded with explosives exploded as Kirillov and his assistant entered a building.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target, as he ordered the use of banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian army,” an informed SBU source told CBS News. “Such an inglorious end awaits anyone who kills Ukrainians. Punishment for war crimes is inevitable.”
ALEXANDRE NEMENOV / AFP via Getty Images
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine’s leaders face imminent revenge for the killing, Russian news agency RIA reported.
The bomb was detonated remotely and had a power equivalent to around 300 grams of TNT, Russia’s official Tass news agency reported, citing unnamed emergency service sources.
“Investigators, forensic experts and operational services are working on site,” Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Russian National Investigative Committee, said in a statement. “Investigation and research activities are underway to establish all the circumstances surrounding this crime.”
She also said the Kremlin considered this a terrorist attack.
ALEXANDRE NEMENOV / AFP via Getty Images
Kirillov and the unit he led were sanctioned by several countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, for using chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s SBU said it had recorded more than 4,800 cases where Russia used chemical weapons on the battlefield since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022. In May, the State Department American announced sanctions against Kirillov’s unit, saying the United States had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a poisonous gas first deployed during World War I, against Ukrainian troops.
Kirillov had held his position since April 2017, notes AFP.
AFPTV/AFP via Getty Images
Russia has denied using chemical weapons in Ukraine and accused kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.
Kirillov was convicted in absentia by a Ukrainian court on December 16 for using chemical weapons banned in Ukraine during Russian military operation in Ukraine it started in February 2022.
Nearly three years after the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian troops have made modest but steady advances, adding to nearly a fifth of the Ukrainian territory they already control.
Emmet Lyons contributed to this report.
