Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has claimed responsibility for the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the army’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection forces, during a bombing raid in Moscow on Tuesday.
Kirillov, 54, was killed along with his assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, when a bomb exploded on a scooter outside an apartment building.
An SBU official said the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as a “war criminal and a completely legitimate target.” On Monday, Kirillov was charged in absentia by the SBU for “ordering the use of banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian armed forces.”
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Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out other high-profile attacks during the nearly three-year war. Kiev has hinted at its involvement, but Ukrainian officials have failed to publicly claim responsibility.
Other high-profile attacks that Russia blames on Ukraine:
Darya Dugina
TV commentator Darya Dugina, 29, was killed in August 2022 when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in her SUV as she drove through the outskirts of Moscow.
It was widely believed that her father, Alexander Dugin, was the intended target. The philosopher, writer and political theorist is a staunch supporter of the war and a prominent supporter of the ideology that emphasizes traditional values, the restoration of Russian power and the unity of all ethnic Russians.
Ukraine denied responsibility for the attack, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying Dugina “is not our responsibility. She is not a citizen of our country. We are not interested in her.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, has publicly identified two suspects, Ukrainian nationals.
Vladlen Tatarsky
Military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky was killed in April 2023 when a bomb tore through a cafe in central St. Petersburg where he had been speaking.
Tatarsky, 40, supported the war in Ukraine and regularly filed reports from the front for his Telegram followers.
The former miner, born in the Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, was convicted of bank robbery and escaped after a Russian-backed separatist uprising swept the region in 2014. He joined the rebels and fought on the front lines before turning to blogging.
Darya Trepova, 26, was convicted of the bombing and sentenced to 27 years in prison after she was seen on camera presenting a small statue to Tatarsky that exploded shortly afterwards. Trepova testified that she did not know the gift contained a bomb.
Zakhar Prilepin
Nationalist Russian writer Zakhar Prilepin narrowly avoided death in a car bombing in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region in May 2023. His driver was killed, while Prilepin was hospitalized with broken bones, bruised lungs and other injuries.
Prilepin, known for his support of the war, was sanctioned by the European Union.
A Ukrainian, Alexander Permyakov, was found guilty of the attack by a Russian court and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Russian Investigative Committee accused him of working on behalf of Kiev.
Stanislav Rzhitsky
Former submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky was shot while jogging in Krasnodar, Russia, in July 2023.
Ukrainian media reported that Rzhitsky was one of six submarine commanders capable of launching the long-range missiles that hit Vinnytsia, Ukraine, a year earlier, killing 23 people and wounding more than 100.
At the time of his death, Rzhitsky was deputy head of a military mobilization bureau in Krasnodar. Russian media reported that the 42-year-old regularly used a fitness app that could have been used to track his movements.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate, denied Kiev’s involvement in the deaths. However, the agency also released details about the killing, including the time of the attack and the number of shots fired. A 64-year-old Ukrainian-born man, Sergei Denisenko, was later arrested.
Ilia Kyva
Illia Kyva, a Ukrainian lawmaker who fled to Russia shortly after the large-scale invasion, was found dead near Moscow in December 2023 with a gunshot wound to the head.
Kyva, 46, a controversial political figure in Ukraine before the war, often appeared on pro-Kremlin talk shows and TV discussions. A month before his death, a Ukrainian court found him guilty of treason in absentia and sentenced him to 14 years in prison.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence, said after Kyva’s death that “the same fate will befall other traitors of Ukraine.” He did not say who was behind the murder. Russia’s State Investigative Committee opened an investigation, but no charges were filed. made.
Sergei Yevshukov
Sergei Yevsyukov, the former head of a prison housing Ukrainian prisoners of war, was killed on December 9 after a bomb exploded under a car in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, Ukrainian media reported. One more person was injured in the explosion.
Yevshukov was in charge of Olenivka prison, where dozens of POWs were killed in a rocket attack in July 2022. He was later accused in absentia by Ukrainian authorities of ‘mass torture’.
Russian authorities said on Saturday they had arrested a suspect in the attack.
Mikhail Shatsky
Ukrainian media reported on December 12 that Russian missile designer Mikhail Shatsky was shot down in a park in a Moscow suburb. Shatsky worked at Moscow’s Experimental Design Bureau Mars, where he reportedly oversaw the modernization of cruise missiles.
Several Ukrainian media reported that Shatsky was shot while walking in the Kuzminsky Forest, near his home. Russian news media reported a disturbance in the same area on the day of Shatsky’s reported death, but did not elaborate.
