By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A general accused by Kyiv of ordering the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops has been assassinated in Moscow using a bomb hidden in an electric scooter, Russian officials said Tuesday.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt along with his assistant, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said in a statement.
There was not yet a public reaction from Kyiv about the killing of Kirillov, who was married with two children.
Yet a person familiar with the operation confirmed privately that Ukraine was behind the assassination. Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, carried out the killing of Lieutenant Kirillov and his assistant, the person told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The SBU’s press office declined to comment.
Tuesday’s killing brought the war to nearly the front door of the Kremlin at a time when Ukrainian drones had already reached the Moscow area.
Kirillov’s death came a day after the SBU accused him of ordering the “massive use” of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops in the country’s east and south.
THOUSANDS OF CASES
The SBU added that there had been “more than 4,800 cases” linked to these weapons.
Kirillov was known to the Russian public from his regular briefings at the Defense Ministry.
The general was sanctioned, including by Britain in October, for the alleged “use of chemical weapons.”
British prosecutors accused Kirillov of “spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behavior” since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The spiraling tensions over the war suggested that Moscow and Kyiv position themselves for possible negotiations when U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month.
Trump told reporters Monday that Ukraine should be ready to reach a deal to end the war, even if that would mean giving up some areas. He appeared to downplay the value of regaining “occupied territory,” saying much has been reduced to a wasteland of ruins.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Saudi Arabia has launched the largest reconstruction initiative in Syria since U.S. sanctions were lifted, positioning the kingdom as a central driver of Syria’s postwar recovery.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States has given Kyiv and Moscow another deadline to reach a peace agreement, proposing that the nearly four-year war should end by June, as Russia escalates air strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Donald Trump at the White House, as negotiations with Iran enter a decisive and potentially volatile phase. The meeting, set for 11:00 a.m. Washington time, will mark Netanyahu’s seventh face-to-face encounter with Trump since the U.S. president began his second term, underscoring the unusually close relationship between the two leaders.
With the deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security only days away, Democrats have refused an offer from the White House to strike a compromise over Immigrations and Customs Enforcement changes.
President Donald Trump is weighing deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the U.S. continues talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, Republicans in Congress are pushing forward multiple bills that would standardize election security requirements nationwide.
Kenya has condemned as “unacceptable” the recruitment of its citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine, amid reports that several Kenyans have been killed or wounded on the battlefield as the war approaches its fourth anniversary.