[Fox] A Ukrainian official has taken credit for the assassination of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the commander of Russia’s chemical, biological and radiation defense forces, and his assistant, who were killed in an explosion in Moscow on Tuesday.Russia's Investigative Committee said the explosive device was placed in a scooter near a residential apartment block on Ryazansky Avenue and triggered remotely, according to The Associated Press. The bombing came one day after Ukrainian Security Services charged Kirillov with crimes.
The bomb had the power of roughly 300 grams of TNT, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
| Courtesy of Fred, the NY Post expands: |
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, 54, was exiting a residential apartment building with an assistant early Tuesday when the bomb detonated in snowy streets, rocking the block and sending their bodies flying.
Harrowing images from the brazen attack show the scooter exploding just a few feet from the men, with their bloodied bodies sprawled across the black snow and charred street in the aftermath.
The blast was so powerful that it also destroyed the doors and nearby windows of the building Kirillov had come from.
Russia's Investigative Committee only said it has opened an investigation into the killings.
However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed to several outlets that it had orchestrated the liquidation.
''The liquidation of the chief of the radiation and chemical protection troops of the Russian Federation is the work of the SBU,'' an SBU source told Rooters.
Kirillov was a ''war criminal and an entirely legitimate target,'' an SBU official also told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
The explosion was allegedly triggered remotely, according to Russian state news agency Tass, with the blast carrying the power of roughly 300 grams of TNT.
Kirillov is the highest-ranking Russian official to be killed in the war, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022.
His death came just a day after the SBU charged Kirillov with the use of banned chemical weapons
...have not been used since WWI except for in Iraq, by the late, unlamented Saddam Hussein and in Syria, but really, honest, not by the Syrian government. And in Germany in WWII, but that was against civilians. Lots of them, just one of many reasons Hitler's also late and unlamented...
during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The SBU said it had recorded more than 4,800 uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield since the war began, particularly K-1 combat grenades.
In May, the US State Department also said that it had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a chemical weapon first used in World War I, against Kyiv's troops.
Kirillov, who was named the head of Russia's nuclear defense forces in April 2017, was also under sanctions from several countries, including the UK and Canada, for his role in Ukraine.
Russian officials have denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!
against Kirillov, claiming he worked ''fearlessly'' for the nation to uncover alleged war crimes committed by the US.
Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current security bigshot, vowed to retaliate against Kyiv over the attack, warning Ukraine's military and politicians that they faced imminent danger.