One of Vladimir Putin’s top army generals was killed in an explosion after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter was detonated outside his Moscow apartment.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a senior official in charge of radiological, chemical and biological defense troops, was killed in the bomb attack as he left his apartment block with his driver or assistant, who was also killed.
The attack, believed to have been the work of a Ukrainian squad, came a day after kyiv accused Kirillov of overseeing the widespread use of banned chemical weapons against its troops in the conflict zone.
Accusing him in absentia of war crimes, the Ukrainian SBU said he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions since the start of the large-scale war.
The Russian investigative committee confirmed the death of the army general, writing: “Igor Kirillov, head of the radiological, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed.”
Photos posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a smashed entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in blood-stained snow. A criminal case has been opened.
The general was killed in a powerful explosion as he left his apartment building. The front door of the house was torn off and the windows broken.
The general’s official car that had arrived to pick him up at six in the morning was also damaged. The bomb was apparently hidden inside or on an electric scooter at the location.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov (pictured), 54, was killed in the explosion as he left his apartment block with his driver or assistant, who was also killed.
It is believed to have detonated remotely causing about 200 grams of TNT to explode.
The Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case following the explosion on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow.
Investigators confirmed the deaths of two men and said a suspect in the case is being identified.
The second man killed was identified only as Ilya P.
Ukraine did not immediately claim responsibility.
But on Monday, the SBU security service in kyiv said it had accused him of using banned chemical weapons in the war.
He was accused of planning to use K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritants, CS and CN, as confirmed by two laboratories affiliated with the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
They were deployed by FPV drones, with the aim of forcing Ukrainian soldiers to come out of the trenches and shoot directly.
It was alleged that the weapons cause severe irritation of mucous membranes, including the eyes and respiratory tract.
This had led to the hospitalization of some 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers since the Russian invasion began.
The SBU said: ‘The Security Service has documented war crimes committed by Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the radiological, chemical and biological defense troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
‘The official is responsible for the massive use of banned chemical weapons by Russian militants against the Defense Forces on the eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine.
“On Kirillov’s orders, since the beginning of the large-scale war, more than 4,800 cases have been recorded in which the enemy used chemical munitions.”
Kirillov served as Chief of the Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces since 2017.
Participated in the creation and adoption of the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system.
He was also known for spreading conspiracy theories about Western use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.
In March 2022, he made a presentation at the Ministry of Defense about alleged American biolabs in Ukraine that are developing projects to spread biological weapons using bats and birds.
Kirillov also accused Ukraine of provocations using toxic chemicals, including a “dirty bomb.”
In August he stated without providing evidence: “The facts of the simultaneous supply of toxic chemicals and means of protection against them indicate an attempt to carry out large-scale provocations using the psychotropic warfare agent BZ during the conflict.”