Putin’s top general is blown up outside his apartment in Moscow bomb attack after being charged with war crimes by Ukraine

One of Vladimir Putin’s top army generals has been killed in an explosion after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter was detonated outside his Moscow apartment.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a senior official in charge of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces, was killed in the bombing as he emerged from his apartment building with his driver or assistant, who was also killed.

The bombing – believed to have been carried out by a Ukrainian assassination squad – came the day after Kiev accused Kirillov of overseeing the widespread use of banned chemical weapons against its forces in the conflict zone.

Ukraine’s SBU charged him in absentia with war crimes, saying he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian forces using chemical munitions since the start of the full-scale war.

The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed the army general’s death, writing: “Igor Kirillov, the head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed.”

Photos on Russia’s Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building strewn with rubble and two bodies lying in blood-stained snow. A criminal case has been opened.

The general was killed in a powerful explosion as he emerged from his apartment building. The entrance door to the house itself was torn off and the windows were destroyed.

The general’s official car, which had arrived to pick him up at 6 a.m., was also damaged. The bomb was apparently hidden at the scene in or on an electric scooter.

It is believed to have been detonated remotely, causing the explosion of an estimated 200 grams of TNT.

The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case following the explosion on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow.

Investigators confirmed the deaths of two men and said a suspect is being identified in the case.

The second dead man was identified only as Ilya P. There was no immediate claim of responsibility from Ukraine.

But on Monday the SBU security service in Kiev said they had accused him of using banned chemical weapons in the war.

He was accused of masterminding the use of K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritants, CS and CN, as confirmed by two laboratories affiliated with the International Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

They were deployed by FPV drones, with the aim of forcing Ukrainian soldiers out of the trenches and taking them under direct fire.

The weapons cause severe irritation of mucous membranes, including the eyes and respiratory tract, it was claimed.

This had resulted in approximately 2,000 Ukrainian troops being hospitalized since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

The SBU said: “The security service has documented war crimes committed by Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.

“The official is responsible for the massive use of banned chemical weapons by Russian militants against forces on Ukraine’s eastern and southern fronts.

“On Kirillov’s orders, more than 4,800 cases of the enemy using chemical munitions have been recorded since the start of the full-scale war.”

Kirillov had served as head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces since 2017.

He participated in the creation and adoption of the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system

He was also known for spreading conspiracy theories about the Western use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.

In March 2022, he gave a Defense Department presentation on alleged US biolabs in Ukraine developing projects to spread biological weapons using bats and birds.

Kirillov also accused Ukraine of provocations using toxic chemicals, including a “dirty bomb.”

In August, he said he provided no evidence: “The facts of the simultaneous supply of toxic chemicals and protective equipment against them indicate an attempt to carry out large-scale provocations during the conflict using the psychotropic chemical warfare agent BZ.”

Kirillov was infamous for warning that Ukrainian biolabs under American supervision were studying viruses that could be transmitted by mosquitoes.

This included US plans to spread mosquitoes using drones to infect Russian troops.

He also expected an increase in bird flu in Russia due to the migration of infected birds from Ukraine.

His death follows the shooting five days ago of Mikhail Shatsky, a designer at the Mars Design Bureau, who had been actively working on upgrading Russia’s Kh-59 cruise missile.

Eight days ago, infamous Russian prison torturer and murderer Sergey Yevsyukov, 49, who headed the Olenivka prison where Ukrainian prisoners of war were abused, died when his Toyota Land Cruiser exploded in a car bomb attack in Donetsk.

Russian naval commander Captain Valery Trankovsky, 47, was killed in a car bomb attack in Sevastopol in November.

A major hunt has been launched for the bomber, who is believed to have carried out orders from Ukrainian intelligence to kill Kirillov.

Russian police suspect the bomber was using a radio signal and was within range of the accident site when the improvised explosive device detonated.

Camera images were carefully examined.

A bomb disposal robot was brought to the blast site, reports said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that Kirillov had “systematically, with facts in hand, exposed the crimes of the Anglo-Saxons for years.”

This included ‘NATO chemical weapons provocations in Syria’ and ‘the British manipulation of banned chemicals and provocations in Salisbury and Amesbury’, as well as ‘the deadly activities of US biolabs in Ukraine and much more.

‘They worked fearlessly. Didn’t hide behind the back. He marched with an open mind. For the motherland, for the truth. Clear memory, God rest his soul.’