Russian general in charge of Putin's nuclear defence forces killed in Moscow by Ukrainian e-scooter bomb
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GB NEWS
Vladimir Putin's nuclear defence forces chief Igor Kirillov has been assassinated in Moscow by a Ukrainian bomb hidden in an electric scooter.
Kirillov and his assistant both died in the overnight blast - and photos have emerged of the grim scene in the Russian capital of rubble and bodies lying in bloody snow.
Law enforcement bigwigs in Russia said the incident is likely to be upgraded to a terrorism case - then, minutes later, Ukrainian security sources have claimed Ukraine was behind the killings.
Ukrainian news agency RBC said the nuclear chief was killed by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
It comes after numerous accusations by Russia of Ukrainian-backed targeted assassinations on its soil since Putin's men invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Photos have emerged of the grim scene in the Russian capital of rubble and bodies lying in bloody snow
REUTERS
Kirillov had claimed on several occasions that Volodymyr Zelensky's forces were developing a "dirty bomb" - a weapon which would spread nuclear material.
And the assassinated general had been sanctioned by Britain back in October, with Labour labelling him a "significant mouthpiece for Russian disinformation".
He had alleged that the UK was behind the 2018 poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.
Ukraine is said to have seen Kirillov as a war criminal and an "absolutely legitimate target", accusing him of ordering the use of prohibited chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces in the war.
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Ukraine's spies had hidden a bomb in an e-scooter
TELEGRAM/BAZA
Kirillov, pictured, had claimed on several occasions that Volodymyr Zelensky's forces were developing a 'dirty bomb'
REUTERS
One Moscow local said the blast was "very loud and very scary" - she told reporters: "At first we thought that cement might have been unloaded or something similar".
"But the blast was so loud that it did not seem like construction work. It was very scary," she added.
Some of Ukraine's highest-profile hit jobs on Russian soil include the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, in a car bomb attack, the murder of pro-war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a 2023 cafe bombing and the 2023 shooting of a Russian submarine commander accused of war crimes by Kyiv.
Law enforcement bigwigs in Russia said the incident is likely to be upgraded to a terrorism case
REUTERS
Former Conservative MP and ex-Defence Select Committee Chairman Tobias Ellwood has labelled Kirillov's death a "major embarrassment" for Russia - and warned that Putin could retaliate.
He told Sky News: "It's a major event, the removal of a senior military officer responsible for nuclear weapons, not on the battlefield in Ukraine, but in Moscow, just miles from the Kremlin.
"This will be an embarrassment for Putin.
"He cannot hide this from the Russian people who are generally not supportive of this war and I would expect a major retaliation on the Russian side."
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