Official statements from countries or credible news sources

Ukraine's SBU Assassinates Russian General Igor Kirillov with Scooter Bomb Over Chemical Weapons Use

Dec 17, 2024, 08:46 PM

Ukraine has claimed responsibility for the assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, in Moscow. The attack occurred when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter detonated outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, killing Kirillov and his assistant. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) confirmed its involvement in the operation, with an SBU source describing Kirillov as a 'war criminal' due to his alleged role in ordering the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces more than 4,800 times since the war began, including the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin. The assassination took place a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged Kirillov in absentia with the use of banned chemical weapons. Russia has denied these allegations and vowed to respond to the attack, which it labeled as terrorism.