Russian military's chemical weapons chief killed in Moscow blast

In this grab from a handout footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on Oct. 24, 2022, Russia's Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in charge of Russian troops for radioactive, chemical and biological protection, speaks at a briefing in Moscow

The head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division was killed on Tuesday in a brazen attack in Moscow claimed by Kiev — the most senior military figure assassinated in Russia yet as the Kremlin's campaign in Ukraine drags on.

Igor Kirillov was killed along with his assistant when an explosive device attached to a scooter went off outside an apartment building in southeastern Moscow, Russian and Ukrainian officials said.

The attack took place in a residential area in the capital a day after President Vladimir Putin boasted of Russian troop successes in Ukraine, nearly three years after the Kremlin sent soldiers into its pro-Western neighbour.

Kirillov, 54, was the head of the Russian army's chemical, biological and radiological weapons unit and in October was sanctioned by Britain over the alleged use of chemical weapons in Ukraine.

A source in Ukraine's SBU security service told AFP it was behind the early morning explosion in what it called a "special operation", calling Kirillov a "war criminal."

Russia's Investigative Committee said that an "explosive device planted in a scooter parked near the entrance of a residential building was activated on the morning of December 17 on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow."

The blast shattered several windows of the building and severely damaged the front door, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

Russian authorities said they were probing the attack as "terrorism".

Ukraine's SBU alledged Kirillov was responsible...