Ukraine claims it’s behind Moscow blast that killed head of Russia’s nuclear defense forces
MOSCOW – Russia’s Investigative Committee said Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defense forces, and his deputy were killed in an explosion in Moscow early Tuesday.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) killed Kirillov in a special operation, Ukrainian security sources told CBS News. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
AFP reported that Russian investigators said an explosive device hidden in an electric scooter exploded outside a residential building as two men left it.
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Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing unnamed sources in the emergency services, that the bomb was triggered remotely and was equivalent to about 300 grams of TNT.
“Investigators, forensic experts and operational service personnel are working on the scene,” commission spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said in a statement. “Investigations and searches are ongoing to identify persons involved in the crime. All situations.”
She also said the Kremlin viewed it as a terrorist attack.
Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images
The committee conducts responsible and major investigations in Russia.
Kirillov has been sanctioned by several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his role in Ukraine.
On December 16, Kirillov was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court for using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russian military operations in Ukraine Starting in February 2022.
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The SBU said that since February 2022, it has recorded more than 4,800 incidents of the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield, particularly K-1 combat grenades.
In a nearly three-year campaign, Russia has made small but steady expansion of the nearly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory it already controls.
According to AFP, Kirillov has held this position since April 2017.
