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Bomb kills Russia's top nuclear protection General Igor Kirillov
A bomb in an electric scooter killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's nuclear protection forces, in Moscow
A bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's investigative committee said.
The head of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was murdered outside an apartment block on Ryazansky Prospekt, according to information in a Reuters report.
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"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," the report quoted the investigative committee.
A criminal case has been opened.
The road known as Ryazansky Prospekt begins around 7 kilometres (4.35 miles) southeast of the Kremlin.
Alongside members of other emergency services, investigators and forensic specialists were on the site.
Kirillov was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court Monday for the use of banned chemical weapons during Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that started in Feb. 2022.
Russia-Ukraine conflict
During the almost 3-year operation, Russia has made small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls.
In other news, US President-elect Donald Trump stated that Ukraine must come to an agreement to terminate the Russian invasion and minimise the worth of captured area, in the latest indication that he would push for a solution that codifies Russian territorial gains.
“He should be prepared to make a deal, that’s all,” Trump said of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while speaking on Monday at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club. “Got to be a deal. Too many people being killed.”
Trump dismissed Ukrainian chances of regaining captured land and said it would take a century to restore Ukrainian cities destroyed by the Russian assault. He once more attacked the use of US weaponry to hit targets farther into Russian territory, a strategy that was approved by the present White House. If conflict persists, he is certain to object to expanding that power.
“It’s nice to say they want their land back, but the cities are largely destroyed,” he said. “You look at some of those cities, and not one building standing. So you know, when you say, “Take over the country,” take over what? Take over what? That’s a 110-year rebuild.”
The remarks are the most recent indication that US aid to Ukraine will be drastically reduced, if not discontinued, following Trump's election. Trump criticised President Joe Biden's administration for allowing Ukraine to use Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to strike back deeper into Russian territory, saying multiple times on Monday that he believes Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not have invaded if he were still in power. The range of the missiles is around 300 kilometres, or 190 miles.
The Biden administration reaffirmed that Zelenskiy is ultimately responsible for determining when and how he is willing to participate in negotiations, as reported by The Business Standard.
Also read: Ukrainian court jails woman who wrote pro-Moscow reports to 14 years in jail
“Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. We’re not going to have talks about them without them involved. We’re not going to force their hand in terms of what their next steps might be,” John Kirby, a spokesman for Biden’s National Security Council, said Monday.
He said that the decision was made in response to North Korean forces being deployed on the battlefield and that the government had started talking about permitting the use of the ATACMS prior to the election.
Trump also mentioned in passing his meeting with Zelenskiy in Paris this month. In answer to a reporter's query, he stated that although he had invited other international leaders to attend his inauguration, he had not invited Zelenskiy. “If he’d like to come, I’d like to have him. I didn’t invite him, no,” Trump said.
