Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed in an explosion in Moscow on Tuesday morning in an expected assassination, Reuters reported.
Kirillov was leaving a residential building early in the morning when an explosive device planted in a scooter exploded, killing him and his aide instantly, Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service told Reuters.
Ukraine’s SBU asserted on Telegram on Monday that Kirillov, the head of the Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), had been “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons.”
The Ukrainian government has not yet commented on the Russian general’s death.
In October, the UK accused Kirillov of overseeing the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and said he acted as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation,” BBC reported.
Ukraine’s SBU backed these claims, stating that Russia had used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s command.
Moscow has denied the allegations.