Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov killed in bomb blast in Moscow, Russia preparing for revenge

A senior general of the Russian army, Irov Kirillov (Irov Kirillov), lost his life in a bomb blast in the capital Moscow. The attack was carried out by detonating a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his apartment.  An assistant of General Igor, who was his driver, also died in the attack. The Security Service of Ukraine had filed criminal charges against Gen. Igor recently. A Ukrainian official said that the attack was carried out by the SSU.

54-year-old Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was the  chief of nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces of the Russian military. He was attacked while leaving his home for office on Tuesday.

On the other hand,  high-level meetings are being held to review the security preparations of Russian military officials and to take revenge for this attack. Former Russian President and currently senior security official Dmitry Medvedev has said that now the military and political leadership of Ukraine will have to bear the brunt of this.

Many countries, including the UK and Canada, put sanctions on Gen. Igor  for his actions in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Whereas Moscow accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by killing several high-profile people and said Kiev would be punished for it.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) launched a criminal investigation against Igor, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.

An SSU official told foreign media that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as a “war criminal and a completely legitimate target.”

The SSU has claimed  that,  since the invasion in February 2022 , Russia has used chemical weapons 4,800 times on the battlefield.  In May, the US State Department said it had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a poisonous gas (first used in World War I)  against Ukrainian troops. But Russia has denied using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and, in turn, has accused Kiev of using toxic methods in the war.

Igor Kirillov, who took over the current post in 2017, has given several briefings accusing the Ukrainian military of using toxic agents and planning to launch attacks with radioactive materials, a claim Ukraine and its Western allies have dismissed as propaganda.

According to Russian news reports, the bomb used in Tuesday’s attack was set off remotely. Images from the scene showed broken windows and burnt bricks of walls. A Ukrainian Security Service official has provided video, which he claimed was taken at the time of the bombing. The video shows two people leaving the building just before an explosion occurs.

Russia’s top state investigative agency said it was treating the death of General Igor Kirillov as a case of terrorism, while authorities in Moscow vowed to punish Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, described the attack as an attempt by Kiev to divert public attention from its military failures.

Over the past year, Russia has been at the forefront of the war, penetrating deep into the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine despite heavy losses. Ukraine tried to change the dynamics by making inroads into Russia’s Kursk region, but it has been slowly losing ground in its own territory.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, several prominent figures have been killed in targeted killings believed to have been carried out by Ukraine.