A HIGH-ranking Russian general has been killed in an explosion in Moscow after a bomb was allegedly planted in an electric scooter.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, was blown up outside his apartment – a day after being charged with war crimes by Ukraine.
The prominent army chief was in charge of radiation, chemical and biological defence troops.
Kirillov, 54, died in the blast as he left his apartment block with his driver or assistant, who was also killed.
The entrance door of the building was torn off and the windows were broken.
Kirillov’s official car, which had arrived to collect him at 6am local time, was also damaged.
A bomb hidden in an electric scooter is believed to have been detonated remotely triggering the explosion of an estimated 200 grams of TNT.
Russian law enforcement suspects the bomber used a radio signal and was within range of the scene when the improvised explosive device blew up.
Following accusations of overseeing the use of prohibited chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was targeted in a bombing suspected to be orchestrated by a Ukrainian hit squad. The incident occurred the day after Kyiv formally accused Kirillov of the alleged war crime in the conflict zone.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) charged Kirillov with war crimes in absentia, specifically attributing to him over 4,800 confirmed instances of Russian forces employing chemical munitions since the onset of the full-scale conflict.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has now opened a criminal case following the explosion on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow today.
Investigators said that a suspect in the case is being identified, with the second man killed identified only as Ilya P.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Ukraine.
But it comes just a day after the SBU security service in Kyiv said it had charged Kirillov with the use of banned chemical weapons in the war.
He was accused of masterminding the use of K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritant agents, CS and CN.
They were deployed by FPV drones, aiming to force Ukrainian soldiers out of trenches and into direct fire.
The weapons cause severe irritation to mucous membranes, including the eyes and respiratory tract, it was alleged.
This had resulted in some 2,000 Ukrainian troops being hospitalised since Russia’s invasion began.
In a statement, the SBU explicitly stated, “The Security Service has gathered evidence of war crimes linked to Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who serves as the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops in the Russian Armed Forces.”
“The official is responsible for the mass use of prohibited chemical weapons by Russian militants against the Defence Forces on the eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine.
“On Kirillov’s orders, more than 4,800 cases of the enemy using chemical munitions have been recorded since the beginning of the full-scale war.”
Kirillov had served as the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops since 2017.
He took part in the creation and adoption of the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system
He was also known for spreading conspiracy theories about Western use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.
In March 2022, he gave a Defence Ministry presentation about alleged American biolabs in Ukraine that are developing projects to spread biological weapons using bats and birds.
Kirillov also accused Ukraine of provocations using toxic chemicals, including a “dirty bomb.”
His death comes five days after the shooting of Mikhail Shatsky, a designer from the Mars Design Bureau, who had worked actively on upgrading the Russian Kh-59 cruise missile.
