One of Vladimir Putin’s top army generals in charge of nuclear and biological forces has been k!lled in an explosion after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter was detonated outside his apartment in Moscow.
According to Mail Online, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov d!ed in the blast moments after he emerged from his apartment block with his assistant, who was also k!lled.
The bombing is believed to have been conducted by a Ukrainian hit squad.’
It comes just a day after Kyiv had accused Kirillov of overseeing the widespread use of banned chemical weapons against its troops in the conflict zone.
Charging him in absentia with war crimes, the Ukrainian SBU security service said he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions since the start of the full-scale war.
The Russian investigative committee confirmed the army general’s death, adding that investigations had been opened into the bombing. Russia has denied allegations it has used chemical weapons in Ukraine.
The bomb was hidden in or on an electric scooter at the scene.
Kirillov, who was named the head of Russia’s nuclear defence forces in April 2017, was under sanctions from several countries including the UK and Canada for his role in Ukraine.
It is believed the bomb was remotely detonated, setting off a blast that mil bloggers suggested was equal to roughly 200 grams of TNT.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case following the explosion at Kirillov’s building on Moscow’s Ryazansky Prospekt.
Investigators confirmed the de@ths of two men and said that a suspect in the case is being identified. The second man k!lled was identified only as Ilya P.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Ukraine, but the deadly explosion came hours after the SBU said Kirillov had been charged with the use of banned chemical weapons.
He was accused of masterminding the use of K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritant agents, CS and CN, as confirmed by two laboratories affiliated with the International Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
