Ukraine says it has killed Russian general Igor Kirillov in Moscow

A senior Russian army general and his aide have been killed in Moscow by Ukrainian security forces, a Ukrainian source told the BBC.

Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), was outside his residence on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated remotely, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

A source in Ukraine’s security service SBU said Kirillov was a “legitimate victim” and said he had committed war crimes.

On Monday, the SBU charged Kirillov in absentia, it says on Telegram that he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”. The Ukrainian government has yet to comment on the general’s death.

Pictures from the scene showed a badly damaged gate to the building with frost on the walls and many windows blown out. Two body bags were also seen on the street.

The building was cordoned off Tuesday morning as Russian investigators continued to comb the area.

In October, the UK imposed sanctions to Kirillov, saying he oversaw the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and served as “an important mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.

Ukraine’s SBU says Russia used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times under the general’s leadership.

Moscow denies these allegations.

The Russian Investigative Committee said it had “opened a case of killing two soldiers”.

“Investigators, forensics and law enforcement are working at the scene,” the statement said.

“Investigative actions and search operations are carried out aimed at finding all criminal cases.”

Russian state news agencies reported on the blast – which killed 54-year-old Kirillov and his assistant on Ryazansky Avenue. southeast of the city – had an explosive power equal to 300g of TNT.

They also said bomb experts and expert search dogs searched the area and no other explosives were found.

Assassinations of top officials have been carried out in Russia before, but attacks in Moscow are rare.

Residents living near the incident told AFP news agency that at first they thought the loud noise they heard was coming from a construction site.

Student Mikhail Mashkov, who lives in a neighboring building, said he was woken up by a “loud explosion”, thinking “something had fallen on the construction site”, before looking outside.

Meanwhile, Olga Bogomolova said she thought a container had fallen on the construction site but then she realized it was “a strong explosion”, she saw “broken windows” and that it was something else.

Under the UK sanctions, Kirillov was subject to an asset freeze and travel ban.

In May, the US has accused Russia of installing chemical weapons as a “method of war” in Ukraine, in violation of international laws prohibiting their use.

State Department officials said Russia used the chokehold chloropicrin to win “advantages on the battlefield” over Ukraine.

According to the SBU, Russian forces used drones to drop chemical weapons on Ukrainian soldiers.

Col Artem Vlasiuk of Ukraine has previously said that more than 2,000 Ukrainian service members have been hospitalized for chemical poisoning during the war and three people have died.

The Kremlin rejected the allegations at the time, calling them “baseless”.

Kirillov has served in various roles in the Russian military related to hazardous materials, including the Office of the Chief of the Radiological, Chemical and Defense Forces.

He was named head of NBC in 2017.

Kirillov’s death comes less than a week after a prominent Russian weapons expert was shot dead near his home in Moscow.

Ukrainian media reported that the assassination of Mikhail Shatsky was carried out by the Ukrainian military intelligence service.