UKRANIAN agents tracked a top Russian general and swapped an electric scooter battery out for explosives before he was assassinated, a security expert claims.
Putin’s military man Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, was blown up outside of his Moscow home after a device detonated outside the building today.
Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was assassinated just a day after he was charged with war crimes by Kyiv.
The SBU charged the general in absentia stating he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”.
Ukraine has denied the country had any involvement with the shock assassination inside Putin’s capital.
Despite this, a source from Ukraine’s security service (SBU) told Reuters it was behind the killing.
The insider said Kyiv regarded Kirillov as a war criminal and an “absolutely legitimate target”.
Security expert Will Geddes claimed this type of attack could reveal General Kirillov was spied on in Ukraine’s alleged most brazen killing yet.
Geddes said: “What we can probably determine from how this attack was undertaken was that a period of surveillance, covert surveillance, and reconnaissance was established to determine General Carrillo’s pattern of life, as we would call it.”
The security expert explained that persistent surveillance could have allowed assassins to know when they could strike.
Geddes also explained potentially why explosives were planted in an electric scooter and not elsewhere.
The security expert revealed how a part of this “everyday item” would allow it to turn into a death machine.
He said: “For example, a lithium battery would be held that allows for a considerable amount of explosives to also be concealed, possibly replacing that lithium battery.”
“So to the human eye, you would only see a scooter that was tethered to a lamppost.
“But the reality for an assassin is that this particular electric scooter was packed with explosives that could be detonated the moment Kirilloff left his apartment.”
While it’s unlikely that Ukrainian officials will ever reveal how the assassination took place, let alone take responsibility, Geddes’ expert insight sheds a light on how the bold attack may have taken place.
The specialist claimed assassins could have detonated the device using a phone or a remote.
He said: “It would be safe to say that whoever triggered or detonated that explosive was having a line of sight on Kirilloff when he left the building to ensure that that assassination was going to be successful.”
Law enforcement officials have reportedly claimed a camera with a view of Kirilloff’s apartment could have been propped up in a vehicle parked nearby.
This supposed lens would have had a view of the building’s front door, allowing the bomb to be triggered remotely.
Who is Putin’s ‘Radioactive Man’ Igor Kirillov?
NOTORIOUS Russian general Igor Kirillov is the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine in the latest humiliating blow for Putin.
Dubbed Putin’s radioactive man, Kirillov was yesterday charged with masterminding the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers.
Charging him in absentia with war crimes, the Ukrainian SBU said he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions since the start of the war.
Kyiv accused the lieutenant general of directing the use of K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritant agents, CS and CN.
Unsuspecting Ukrainian soldiers were forced out of trenches and into direct fire when they were deployed by FPV drones.
At least 2,000 of Kyiv’s troops have been hospitalised since the start of the war as a result, the SBU said.
Kirillov was appointed as Putin’s Chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops in 2017.
Born in July 1970 in riverside city Kostroma, Kirillov went on to attend Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defence.
He served as a platoon commander in the Western Group of Forces in Germany and the Moscow Military District.
After graduating, he held several posts in Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical defence forces – becoming the chief in 2017.
Kirillov notoriously helped develop the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system.
In October, he was sanctioned by the UK for using riot control agents in Ukraine after multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin during the war.
The UK government said Kirillov was “responsible for helping deploy these barbaric weapons”.
It also accused the general of being “a significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation, spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behaviour”.
He famously accused American biolabs in Ukraine of developing drones containing thousands of mosquitoes carrying infectious diseases.
The war criminal alleged there were plans to deploy the drones to infect Russian troops – and ultimately kill them.
MORNING BLAST
CCTV footage showed the moment the bomb exploded, igniting a huge yellow and orange flash.
Images showed how the electric scooter blast was powerful enough to rip the windows and doors off the front of the building.
It is believed around 200 grams of TNT were used to blow the general up.
This attack was significant as the killings of senior officials have been carried out in Russia but assassinations inside Moscow are rare.
Geddes revealed the slaying of such a high-level military official was a significant move.
He said: “Kirilloff is one of probably the most senior, military officers in Russia to have been targeted within Russia, which in itself is a very serious, statement being made by the party or parties behind it.”
The general 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.
He claimed in March 2022 that American biolabs in Ukraine were developing plans to spread biological weapons using bats and birds.
