Nuclear defense chief killed by an explosion in Moscow

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his deputy were killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside the entrance of a building in Moscow early 17 December, the committee said in a statement, adding that an investigation has been opened.

The incident occurred a day after Ukraine's SBU security service reported that Ukrainian prosecutors filed an indictment against Kirillov, accusing him of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops during the war initiated by Ukraine's unprotested invasion of Russia.

The investigative committee said the blast took place outside a palace in Ryazansky Prospect, a road in the Russian capital that begins about 7km southeast of the Kremlin.

a road in the Russian capital that begins about seven miles [7 km] southeast of the Kremlin.

<x0Igor Kirillov, head of the chemical, biological and radiation defence forces of the Russian Federation armed forces, and his deputy was killed”, the investigative committee said.

Photos posted on the Russian channel Telegram Astra showed what seemed to be two bodies lying in the snow outside the damaged door of an apartment building.

After analyzing images of a car parked near the apartment building, Astra reported that the vehicle was Kirillo's.

RKHBZ are special forces operating under radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination conditions.

According to his official biography, Kirillov participated in the creation and adoption of the system of heavy flamethrowers TOS-2 “Tosochka” from the Russian Army, as well as in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine has not commented on the information yet.

Kirillov and RKHBZ were placed on Britain's list of sanctions in October for the use of riot control agents and numerous reports of the use of the deadly toxic agent chloropicrin on the battlefield. /rel