Ukraine claims to have killed Russian General Igor Kirilov in Moscow

A senior general in the Russian armed forces and his aide have been killed in Moscow by Ukraine’s security services, a Ukrainian source told the BBC.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, head of the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), was outside an apartment block early Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely, Russia’s Investigative Committee (SK) said.

A source in Ukraine’s SBU security service said Kirilov was a “legitimate target” and alleged he had committed war crimes.

On Monday, the SBU charged 54-year-old Kirilov in absentia, saying in Telegram that he was “responsible for the massive use of banned chemical weapons”.

The Ukrainian government has not yet commented on the general’s death.

Pictures from the scene in southeast Moscow showed a badly damaged entrance to a building with burn marks on the walls and numerous blown out windows. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.

The block was cordoned off on Tuesday morning as Russian investigators continued to search the area.

in October The United Kingdom imposed sanctions for Kirilov, saying he oversaw the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and acted as “an important mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation.”

Ukraine’s SBU claims Russia used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.

Moscow denies the allegations.

The SC announced that it had “opened a criminal case for the murder of two servicemen”.

Investigators, forensic experts and operational services are working at the scene,” the announcement said.

“Investigative actions and operational search activities aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime are underway.

Russian state news agencies said the explosive device that killed Kirilov and his aide on Ryazansky Boulevard had an explosive force equivalent to 300 grams (0.7 pounds) of TNT.

They added that bomb experts and specialist sniffer dogs had scoured the area and no other explosives had been found.

Experts told BBC Verify that judging by images of the scene, the explosion appears to have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED)a type of homemade bomb that usually contains readily available components such as nails or glass.

Assassinations of senior officials have occurred in Russia before, but attacks in Moscow are rare.

Lisa, who lives a block from the site of the explosion, told the BBC that while she was not completely surprised, the killing of Igor Kirilov was a “shocking” development.

“It’s one thing to read about it in the news, it feels far away, but when it happens next door, it’s completely different and scary,” she tells me.

“Until now (the war) has felt like it’s happening very far away – now someone’s dead, you can feel the effects here,” Lisa said, adding that “unfortunately, I don’t think things are going to calm down anytime soon.”

Several other local residents said they initially thought the loud noise they heard was coming from a construction site.

Student Mikhail Mashkov, who lives in the building next door, told AFP he was woken up by a “very loud explosion noise”, thinking “something had fallen on the construction site”, before looking outside.

Olga Bogomolova said that she thought that a container had fallen on the construction site, but then she realized that “it was a very strong explosion”, she saw “broken windows” and that it was something else.

People living in the area told the BBC of their deep shock.

Even nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, for many Muscovites the war is something that happens far away – something they only see on television or on their phones.

The assassination of a Russian general in Moscow is a sign that this war is very real and very close.

Under UK sanctions, Kirillov was subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

in May The US has accused Russia of having chemical weapons as a “method of war” in Ukraine, in violation of international laws prohibiting their use.

State Department officials said Russia used the choking agent chlorpicrin to make “battlefield gains” over Ukraine.

According to the SBU, Russian forces used drones to drop chemical weapons on Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk said earlier that more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen were treated in hospital for chemical poisoning during the war and three people died.

The Kremlin then rejected the accusations, calling them “groundless”.

Kirilov has served in various roles in the Russian military related to hazardous materials, including in the directorate of the chief of troops for radiation, chemical and biological protection.

He was appointed head of NBC in 2017.

In response to Kirillov’s death, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “It is clear that we will not mourn the death of an individual who advocated an illegal invasion and inflicted suffering and death on the Ukrainian people.”

Ukraine’s security services appear to be stepping up their attacks on high-ranking Russian figures, almost three years into the conflict.

Kirilov’s death comes less than a week after a prominent Russian arms expert was shot dead near his home in Moscow.

Ukrainian media reported that the murder of Mykhailo Shatsky was carried out by the military intelligence of Ukraine.

Senior Russian naval officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian prison chief Sergei Evsyukov also died after car bombs exploded in Russian-occupied Ukraine in recent weeks.