What happened
A remote-triggered bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, outside an apartment in Moscow early Monday, Russia’s Investigative Committee said. Kirillov’s assistant was also killed in the blast, about 4 miles from the Kremlin.
Who said what
Ukraine’s SBU security service charged Kirillov in absentia Monday with the “mass use of banned chemical weapons” on Ukrainian troops. The SBU alleged that, under Kirillov’s leadership, Russia had used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times since February 2022. The U.S. and Britain have also accused Russia of using chemical weapons in Ukraine, notably the World War I–era toxic choking agent chloropicrin, and Kirillov had been under U.K. sanctions since October. Russia has denied using chemical weapons.
An SBU source confirmed the intelligence agency was responsible for Kirillov’s “liquidation,” Reuters said, making him the “most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine.”
What next?
Moscow holds Ukraine responsible for a “string of high-profile assassinations on its soil,” and top security council official Dmitry Medvedev warned today that “Ukraine’s military and political leadership now faced imminent revenge for Kirillov’s murder,” Reuters said, citing state media.