A top general of the Russian armed forces and his aides were killed by Ukrainian security services in Moscow, Ukrainian sources told the BBC.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said a device hidden in a motorcycle was detonated remotely by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces (NBC), outside a residential complex early on Tuesday.

A source in Ukraine’s SBU security service called Kirillov a “legitimate target” and accused him of war crimes.

On Monday, the SBU charged Kirillov in absentia, saying on telegraph He was “responsible for the large-scale use of banned chemical weapons.” The Ukrainian government has yet to comment on the general’s death.

Photos from the scene showed that the entrance to a building was severely damaged, with scorch marks on the walls and many windows blown out. Two body bags could also be seen on the street.

The neighborhood was cordoned off Tuesday morning as Russian investigators continued to search the area.

October, UK imposes sanctions Kirillov said he oversaw the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and served as “an important mouthpiece for the Kremlin’s disinformation.”

The Ukrainian SBU claimed that Russia, under the leadership of the general, used chemical weapons more than 4,800 times.

Moscow denies the accusations.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it had “opened a case for the murder of two servicemen.”

“Investigators, forensic experts and operational services personnel are working on scene,” the statement said.

“Investigative operations and operational searches are ongoing to establish all the circumstances of the offence.”

Russia’s state news agency reported the explosive device that killed 54-year-old Kirillov and his assistant on Ryazan Street In the southeast of the city – the explosive force was equivalent to 300 grams of TNT.

They added that bomb experts and specialized search and rescue dogs had checked the surrounding area and found no other explosives.

Experts tell BBC Verified, after research Images from the scene indicate the explosion appeared to have been caused by an improvised explosive device (IED)a homemade bomb that often contains easily available components such as nails or glass.

There have been assassinations of senior officials in Russia before, but the attack in Moscow was rare.

Residents living near the explosion site told AFP they initially thought the loud noise they heard came from a construction site.

Mikhail Mashkov, a student who lives in the building next door, said he was woken by a “very loud explosion” and thought “something had fallen on the construction site” and looked outside.

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

People living in the area expressed their deep shock to the BBC.

Even after three years of conflict, Russia’s war in Ukraine remains a distant thing for many Muscovites – they can only see it on television or on their mobile phones.

The killing of a Russian general in Moscow is a sign that this war is very real and very close to home.

Kirillov is subject to an asset freeze and travel ban under British sanctions.

in May, US accuses Russia of deploying chemical weapons As a “method of war” in Ukraine, it violates international law prohibiting the use of such weapons.

A U.S. State Department official said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to win a “battlefield victory” against Ukraine.

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

Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk has previously stated that more than 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen were treated in hospitals due to chemical poisoning during the war, and three of them died.

The Kremlin denied the accusations at the time, calling them “baseless.”

Kirillov held various positions related to hazardous materials in the Russian Army, including the Command of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces.

In 2017, he was named head of NBC.

In response to Kirillov’s death, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “Obviously we will not mourn the death of a man who promoted an illegal invasion and brought suffering and death to the people of Ukraine.”

Nearly three years after the conflict began, Ukrainian security services appear to have stepped up their efforts to target senior Russian figures.

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 Mikhail Shatsky’s assassination was carried out by Ukrainian military intelligence.

Senior Russian Navy officer Valery Trankovsky and Russian prison boss Sergei Yevsiukov Car bombs have killed people in Russian-occupied Ukraine in recent weeks.