Electric scooter rigged with explosives kills Russia’s nuke boss and his assistant in Moscow, Ukraine claims responsibility

The head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical forces was blown up Tuesday by a bomb-rigged scooter — the highest-ranking Russian official killed in more than 2 1/2 years of war.

Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, 54, was exiting a residential apartment building with an assistant early Tuesday when the bomb detonated in snowy streets, rocking the block and sending their bodies flying. 

Harrowing images from the brazen attack show the scooter exploding just a few feet from the men, with their bloodied bodies sprawled across the black snow and charred street in the aftermath. 

The blast was so powerful that it also destroyed the doors and nearby windows of the building Kirillov had come from. 

Russia’s Investigative Committee only said it has opened an investigation into the killings.

However, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed to several outlets that it had orchestrated the assassination.

“The liquidation of the chief of the radiation and chemical protection troops of the Russian Federation is the work of the SBU,” an SBU source told Reuters. 

Kirillov was a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target,” an SBU official also told the Associated Press.

The explosion was allegedly triggered remotely, according to Russian state news agency Tass, with the blast carrying the power of roughly 300 grams of TNT.  

Kirillov is the highest-ranking Russian official to be killed in the war, which began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022. 

His death came just a day after the SBU charged Kirillov with the use of banned chemical weapons during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The SBU said it had recorded more than 4,800 uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield since the war began, particularly K-1 combat grenades.

In May, the US State Department also said that it had recorded the use of chloropicrin, a chemical weapon first used in World War I, against Kyiv’s troops.

Kirillov, who was named the head of Russia’s nuclear defense forces in April 2017, was also under sanctions from several countries, including the UK and Canada, for his role in Ukraine.

Russian officials have denied the allegations against Kirillov, claiming he worked “fearlessly” for the nation to uncover alleged war crimes committed by the US. 

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and current senior security official, vowed to retaliate against Kyiv over the attack, warning Ukraine’s military and political leaders that they faced imminent danger.  

With Post wires