Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv claims it was behind Moscow bomb that killed one of Putin’s senior generals
Igor Kirillov was charged by Kyiv yesterday over alleged use of banned chemical weapons in war
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukrainian security services have killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow today, intelligence sources in Kyiv have claimed.
Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt after a bomb hidden in an electric scooter detonated.
In a statement to the Financial Times, an intelligence source described Kirillov as a “completely legitimate target”.
He was sanctioned by Britain in October for his battlefield involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“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 investigative committee said.
Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.
His death comes a day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged him with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine war.
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Ukrainian drone raid destroys Russian ammunition depot in Donetsk region, source says
A Ukrainian drone attack destroyed a Russian ammunition depot near the village of Markine in Russian-occupied Donetsk region, a source in Ukraine‘s SBU state security service said on Monday.
The depot stored thousands of ammunition rounds for armoured personnel carriers and tanks, anti-tank guided missiles, mines and grenades, plus millions of rounds of ammunition for guns of various calibres, the source said.
The attack also destroyed the nearby fuel storage facility, according to the source.
As the full-scale war approaches its 34th month, Russia is inching forward in Ukraine‘s east with the most intense fighting taking place on the Kurakhove and Pokrovsk fronts in Donetsk region.
Ukraine relies on long-range drones to damage Russian strategic and military targets far beyond the front lines, including attacks on ammunition depots and oil facilities.
Ukraine reports North Korean losses on Russia's Kursk front
Ukraine has claimed that North Korean units fighting for Russia sustained losses of at least 30 soldiers killed or wounded around several villages on the front in Russia’s Kursk region over the weekend.
Ukraine‘s military spy agency reported the losses in a statement after President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday Russia was using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults in Kursk, a Russian region where Ukraine launched a cross-border incursion in August.
The statement is the first time Ukraine has reported North Korean losses of this scale and in some detail. It said the losses were recorded in the vicinity of the villages of Plekhovo, Vorozhba and Martynovka in the Kursk region.
It was not possible to independently verify the figures. Russia has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Koreans on its side. Pyongyang initially dismissed reports about the troop deployment as “fake news”, but a North Korean official has said any such deployment would be lawful.
“Due to the losses, the assault groups are being replenished with fresh personnel, in particular from the 94th separate brigade of the DPRK army, to continue active combat operations in Kursk region,” the Ukrainian agency wrote, without providing evidence.
Damaged Russian tankers were carrying 62,000 barrels of oil products, Tass says
Two Russian tankers that spilled oil into the Kerch Strait after sustaining serious damage during a heavy storm on Sunday were carrying 9,200 metric tons (62,000 barrels) of oil products at the time, the state Tass news agency reported.
How much of the fuel leaked is being determined, Tass said. It said the Volgoneft 212 was carrying roughly 4,900 tons of fuel oil at the time, and the Volgoneft 239 4,300 tons.
Russia’s emergencies ministry said on Monday that all 14 crew members from the Volgoneft 239 had been rescued. The vessel ran aground 80 metres from the shore near the port of Taman.
The Kerch Strait, which separates mainland Russia from Moscow-annexed Crimea, is a key route for exports of Russian grain and fuel products.
The spill has the potential to be one of the largest environmental disasters to affect the region in recent years.
On Sunday, one crew member was killed after the Volgoneft 212 split in half with its bow sinking. Eleven others were taken to a local hospital.
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered the government to set up a working group to deal with the rescue operation and mitigate the impact of the spill, Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
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