MOSCOW: A top Russian general, Igor Kirillov, accused of using chemical weapons on the battlefields in Ukraine, was killed in a bomb blast in Moscow, in an attack claimed by Ukraine, CNN reported citing Russian investigators.
Lieutenant General Kirillov, who headed Russia’s radiological, biological and chemical protection forces, was killed by a remotely detonated bomb planted in an electric scooter outside an apartment building approximately 7km (4 miles) southeast of the Kremlin, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee.
The blast came a day after Ukrainian prosecutors sentenced Kirillov in absentia for Russia’s use of banned chemical weapons during its invasion.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, as he gave orders to use banned chemical substances against the Ukrainian military,” CNN quoted a source as saying. “Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”
Kirillov, 54, is the most senior military official known to be killed since the beginning of Russia-Ukraine in February 2022. His assistant, named in Russian media as Ilya Polikarpov, was also killed in the blast on Ryazansky Street.
A video obtained by CNN showed the moments before the two men were killed in the explosion. The outline of what appears to be a scooter can be seen to the right of the door of the residential building. As the two men step outside and walk towards a car, the bomb detonates and the screen flashes white.
The bomb packed explosive power amounting to some 300 grams of TNT, Russian state news agency TASS reported. Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a probe into the attack, calling it a “terrorist act.”
Chloropicrin, which affects the eyes, skin, throat and lungs, – manufactured for use as a tear gas during the trench warfare of World War I. It was banned in 1993 under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), to which Russia is a signatory, according to CNN.
Ukraine’s SBU on Monday said that more than 4,800 cases of Russian use of chemical munitions had been recorded on Kirillov’s orders since the war began – particularly grenades equipped with irritant chemical agents.
Before his death, the US had sanctioned Kirillov’s government entity for its alleged use of the chemical weapon chloropicrin against troops in Ukraine. (ANI)