Ukraine claims killing of senior Russian military official

Russia, Dec. 18: Ukraine's security service killed Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in a special operation in Moscow on Tuesday, a source inside the agency said. Kirillov was the commander of Russian armed forces' chemical, biological and radiation defence troops and was sanctioned in October by Britain over the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.    

The killing of a senior Russian military official, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on Tuesday was a "special operation" by Ukraine's SBU security service, a source inside the agency told AFP.

Kirillov is the most senior Russian army official to be targeted on Russian territory, killed with his assistant when an explosive device attached to a scooter went off outside an apartment building in south-eastern 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," the source said.

"Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military," it said.

Kirillov was on Monday charged in absentia by Ukrainian authorities over alleged war crimes following an investigation by the SBU.

In October, he had been sanctioned by the UK over the suspected use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

"Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable," the SBU source said.

It confirmed Kirillov was killed when "a scooter with explosives" detonated as he entered the building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow.

In December 2023, Illia Kiva, a former pro-Moscow Ukrainian lawmaker who fled to Russia, was shot and killed near Moscow. The Ukrainian military intelligence lauded the killing, warning that other "traitors of Ukraine" would share the same fate.

On Dec. 9, an explosive device was placed under a car in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, reportedly targeting Sergei Yevsyukov, the former head of the Olenivka Prison where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war died in a missile strike in July 2022. One other was injured in the blast. Russian authorities said they detained a suspect in the attack. (AFP)