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A HIGH-ranking Russian general has been killed in an explosion in Moscow after a bomb was allegedly planted in an electric scooter.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, 54, was blown up outside his apartment - a day after being charged with war crimes by Ukraine.
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The prominent army chief was in charge of radiation, chemical and biological defence troops.
Kirillov, 54, died in the blast as he left his apartment block with his driver or assistant, who was also killed.
A bomb hidden in an electric scooter is believed to have been detonated remotely triggering the explosion of an estimated 200 grams of TNT.
Russian law enforcement suspects the bomber used a radio signal and was within range of the scene when the improvised explosive device blew up.
Ukraine's security service (SBU) was behind the killing, a source from the agency told Reuters.
The insider said Kyiv regarded Kirillov as a war criminal and an "absolutely legitimate target".
But Volodymyr Zelensky's office later denied Ukrainian involvement in Kirillov's death.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian president's office, said: "Ukraine does not use methods of terrorist formats.
"We have all the events on the battlefield. We have decisions on this or that general that are made on the battlefield.
"Kirillov was a big whistleblower, perhaps it's an internal showdown, went where he didn't need to go, found out what he didn't need to find out."
Russia's Investigative Committee is treating the blast in Ryazansky Prospekt, Moscow, today as a terrorist act.
Who is Putin's 'Radioactive Man' Igor Kirillov?
NOTORIOUS Russian general Igor Kirillov who bizarrely accused the West of plotting to deploy mosquitoes on drones to infect troops
The 54-year-old is the most senior Russian military officer to be assassinated inside Russia by Ukraine - and the latest humiliating blow for Putin.
Dubbed Vladimir Putin's radioactive man, Kirillov was yesterday charged with masterminding the use of banned chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers.
Charging him in absentia with war crimes, the Ukrainian SBU said he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions since the start of the war.
Kyiv accused the lieutenant general of directing the use of K-1 grenades loaded with banned irritant agents, CS and CN.
Unsuspecting Ukrainian soldiers were forced out of trenches and into direct fire when they were deployed by FPV drones.
At least 2,000 of Kyiv's troops have been hospitalised since the start of the war as a result, the SBU said.
Kirillov was appointed as Putin's Chief of the Russian Armed Forces' Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops in 2017.
Born in July 1970 in riverside city Kostroma, Kirillov went on to attend Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defence.
He served as a platoon commander in the Western Group of Forces in Germany and the Moscow Military District.
After graduating, he held several posts in Russia's nuclear, biological and chemical defence forces - becoming the chief in 2017.
Kirillov notoriously helped develop the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system.
In October, he was sanctioned by the UK for using riot control agents in Ukraine after multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin during the war.
The UK government said Kirillov was "responsible for helping deploy these barbaric weapons".
It also accused the general of being "a significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation, spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behaviour".
He famously accused American biolabs in Ukraine of developing drones containing thousands of mosquitoes carrying infectious diseases.
The war criminal alleged there were plans to deploy the drones to infect Russian troops - and ultimately kill them.
The entrance door of the building was torn off and the windows were broken in the blast.
Kirillov's official car, which had arrived to collect him at 6am local time, was also damaged.
It comes a day after Kyiv had accused Kirillov of overseeing the widespread use of banned chemical weapons against its troops in the conflict zone.
The weapons cause severe irritation to mucous membranes, including the eyes and respiratory tract, it was alleged.
This had resulted in some 2,000 Ukrainian troops being hospitalised since Russia’s invasion began.
The SBU said: “The Security Service has documented war crimes committed by Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
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“The official is responsible for the mass use of prohibited chemical weapons by Russian militants against the Defence Forces on the eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine.
“On Kirillov's orders, more than 4,800 cases of the enemy using chemical munitions have been recorded since the beginning of the full-scale war.”
Kirillov had served as the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces' Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops since 2017.
He took part in the creation and adoption of the TOS-2 Tosochka heavy flamethrower system
He was also known for spreading conspiracy theories about Western use of chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine.
In March 2022, he gave a Defence Ministry presentation about alleged American biolabs in Ukraine that are developing projects to spread biological weapons using bats and birds.
His death comes five days after the shooting of Mikhail Shatsky, a designer from the Mars Design Bureau, who had worked actively on upgrading the Russian Kh-59 cruise missile.
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