Russian Nuclear Chief’s Killing Threatens to Take the War to Another Level

The assassination of Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's chemical weapons division, is the most high-profile killing so far after the Ukraine war began. Ukraine has taken the responsibility of the killing.

Kirillov was of the rank of Lieutenant General and headed Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Division. He was killed on Tuesday in an attack in Moscow. An explosive device concealed in an electric scooter detonated near an apartment building in southeastern Moscow, that killed Kirillov, along with an assistant.

While Syria development has put Russia on a backfoot, killing of its nuclear and chemical chief has come at a time Russia would have least wanted. Kirillov had been accused of using chemical weapons against Ukraine, which had been denied by Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia on Wednesday said that it had detained an Uzbek man who confessed to have carried out the incident on the behest of Ukraine's SBU security service.