Ukraine takes responsibility for the explosion that killed Russian general

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant were killed by a bomb hidden in a scooter outside of the entrance of a building in Moscow early December 17th, the committee said in a statement, adding that they have launched investigations into the case.

The blast was the result of a special security service operation Ukraine's SBU, a source in SBU for Radio Free Europe said.

Kirillov is the highest-ranking Russian military officer to have been killed in what appears to be an assassination since the beginning of Russia's full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The SBU said Russian forces used chemical weapons almost 5,000 times during the war in Ukraine under Kirillo's leadership.

The claim could not be verified independently, but Kiev reportedly stands behind a campaign of murders targeting Russian officials and military officers, involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

The blast occurred a day after Ukraine's SBU security service reported that Ukrainian prosecutors filed an indictment against Kirillo, as responsible for using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops during the war initiated by Ukraine's unprotested invasion of Russia.

Kirillov is one of several Russian officers and pro-war figures who were killed in Russia and in parts occupied by Russia and Ukraine.

His death took place a week after a senior official of a Russian company producing cruise missiles used by Moscow in war was reportedly shot to death just outside the capital.

Kirillov appeared in images that were essential for a research by the Russian Radio Free Europe Service, which revealed details about an object outside Moscow that, according to the US statement, shows that Russia holds a biological arms offensive programme contrary to the UN Convention on Biological Weapons.

The investigation focused on images of Russian state media showing then Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu inspecting the facility, which was known for its role in the Soviet Union's biological weapons programme that has undergone great expansion.

Kirillov led the Shoig to his tour of the facility called the 48th Central Institute of Scientific Research.

The investigative committee said the blast that killed Kirillowe took place outside a palace in Ryazansky Prospect, a road in the Russian capital that starts about seven kilometers southeast of the Kremlin.

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.

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.

Kirillov and his forces were “responsible for helping establish these barbarian weapons”, Britain said at the time.

The Kremlin called the charges “groundless”.

Kirillov, who according to Russian state news agency T The ASS was a graduate of the Costroma High Military Defense Command School, assigned to the helm of RKHBZ in April 2017.

He used to serve at the Chief of the Chemical Protection Corps, Biological and Radiation. / REL