Ukraine claims responsibility for the killing of Russian general in Moscow
- 17 December, 09:49
Ukrainian security service SBU on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing of the high-ranking Russian general in Moscow.
"The liquidation of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of the Russian Armed Forces' radiation, chemical and biological defence troops is a special operation by the SBU," a source within the SBU told local media.
Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was killed outside of a residential building on Tuesday as a remotely-controlled explosive device was detonated, Russia's Investigative Committee said. Kirillov’s aide was also killed in the blast that occurred in south-eastern Moscow.
Being a mouthpiece for Russia’s war propaganda, Igor Kirillov was often accused by the West of overseeing the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine war. The UK Foreign Office had accused him of deploying "barbaric chemical weapons in Ukraine".
Sources from Ukraine's security service said that Kirillov was a legitimate target as he gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military. The Russian general’s assassination comes a day after Ukrainian authorities, based on investigation carried out by the SBU, charged him in absentia over the war crimes, including "mass use" of prohibited chemical weapons on battlefields in Ukraine.
Kirillov is the most recent military official killed by Ukrainian intelligence forces.
