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‘Top Russian General Assassinated in Moscow’, Moscow Says

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A general accused by Kyiv of ordering the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops has been assassinated in Moscow using a bomb hidden in an electric scooter, Russian officials said Tuesday.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt along with his assistant, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement.

There was not yet a public reaction from Kyiv about the killing of Kirillov, who was married with two children.

Yet a person familiar with the operation confirmed privately that Ukraine was behind the assassination. Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, carried out the killing of Lieutenant Kirillov and his assistant, the person told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The SBU’s press office declined to comment.

Tuesday’s killing brought the war to nearly the front door of the Kremlin at a time when Ukrainian drones had already reached the Moscow area.

Kirillov’s death came a day after the SBU accused him of ordering the “massive use” of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops in the country’s east and south.

THOUSANDS OF CASES

The SBU added that there had been “more than 4,800 cases” linked to these weapons.

Kirillov was known to the Russian public from his regular briefings at the Defense Ministry.

The general was sanctioned, including by Britain in October, for the alleged “use of chemical weapons.”

British prosecutors accused Kirillov of “spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behavior” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The spiraling tensions over the war suggested that Moscow and Kyiv position themselves for possible negotiations when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month.

Trump told reporters Monday that Ukraine should be ready to reach a deal to end the war, even if that would mean giving up some areas. He appeared to downplay the value of regaining “occupied territory,” saying much has been reduced to a wasteland of ruins.