Ukrainian security agency SBU on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in an explosion of a bomb hidden in an electric scooter, Kirillov and his aid were both killed in the blast.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian leadership would face imminent revenge for the assassination. "Realising the inevitability of its military defeat, it launches cowardly and despicable strikes in peaceful cities," he said.
Kirillov was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, which starts road some 7 km (4.35 miles) southeast of the Kremlin. "Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," the investigative committee said. A criminal case has been opened.
Pictures from the scene of the explosion show damage to a front door and a building and two bodies lying on the street covered in snow.
Ukraine, Russia forces battle in Kורדל
(צילום: רויטרס)
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The UK imposed sanctions on Kirillov last October claiming he was overseeing the use of chemical weapons in the fighting in Ukraine. According to the British authorities, his forces used the chemical materials used to disperse riots as well as chloropicrin that causes asphyxiation. It was first used in WWI. The UK claimed Kirillov assisted the Kremlin in the use of the "barbaric weapon" and was a significant factor in promoting Russian disinformation.