Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, has claimed responsibility for killing Lt. General Igor Kirillov, head of the military’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, in a bombing Tuesday in Moscow.
Kirillov, 54, was killed alongside his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, when a bomb planted on a scooter exploded outside an apartment block.
An official with the SBU said the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target.” On Monday, Kirillov was charged in absentia by the SBU for ”ordering the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukraine’s Defense Forces.”
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out other high-profile attacks throughout the nearly 3-year-old war. Kyiv has hinted at its involvement but Ukrainian officials have stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility.
Other high-profile attacks that Russia has blamed on Ukraine:
TV commentator Darya Dugina, 29, was killed in August 2022 when a remote-controlled bomb planted in her SUV blew up as she drove on Moscow’s outskirts.
Her father, Alexander Dugin, was widely believed to be the intended target. The philosopher, writer and political theorist is an ardent supporter of the war and a prominent proponent of the ideology that emphasizes traditional values, the restoration of Russia’s power and the unity of all ethnic Russians.
Ukraine denied responsibility for the attack, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Dugina is “not our responsibility. She is not a citizen of our country. We are not interested in her.”
Russia’s Federal Security Agency, the FSB, publicly identified two suspects, Ukrainian citizens.
Military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in April 2023 when a bomb tore through a cafe in central St Petersburg where he had been speaking.
Tatarsky, 40, supported the war in Ukraine and filed regular reports from the front for his Telegram followers.
Born in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, the former coal miner was convicted of bank robbery and escaped after a Russia-backed separatist rebellion engulfed the region in 2014. He joined the rebels and fought on the front line before turning to blogging.
Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted of the bombing and sentenced to 27 years in prison after she was seen on camera presenting a small statue to Tatarsky that exploded shortly afterward. Trepova testified she didn’t know the gift contained a bomb.
Nationalist Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin narrowly avoided death in a car bombing in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region in May 2023. His driver was killed, while Prilepin was hospitalized with broken bones, bruised lungs and other injuries.
Prilepin, known for support of the war, was sanctioned by the European Union.
A Ukrainian, Alexander Permyakov, was found guilty of the attack in a Russian court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Russia’s Investigative Committee accused him of working under orders from Kyiv.
Former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky was gunned down in July 2023 while jogging in Krasnodar, Russia.
Ukrainian media reported that Rzhitsky was one of six submarine commanders able to launch the long-range missiles that hit Vinnytsia, Ukraine, a year earlier, killing 23 people and wounding over 100.
When he died, Rzhitsky was deputy head of a military mobilization office in Krasnodar. Russian media outlets reported that the 42-year-old regularly used a fitness app that could have been used to track his movements,
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate, denied Kyiv’s involvement in the death. However, the agency also released details about the killing, including the time of the attack and the number of shots fired. A 64-year-old Ukrainian-born man, Sergei Denisenko, was later arrested.
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