Ukraine-Russia war latest: Bomb kills Russian general in charge of nuclear forces

A bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed a senior Russian general in charge of the country’s nuclear protection forces in Moscow this morning, Russia’s investigative committee said.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who is chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, which is located around 7km (4miles) southeast of the Kremlin.

He was sanctioned by Britain in October, along with the nuclear protection forces for using riot control agents and multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.

“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.

He was charged by Ukrainian prosecutors yesterday in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine said.

Russia’s defence minister has said Moscow must be ready to fight the Nato military alliance in Europe in the next decade, as president Vladimir Putin said he believed the Ukraine war was turning in his country’s favour.

Andrei Belousov, Mr Putin’s defence chief, cited a Nato summit in July, military doctrines in the US, and other members of the grouping as evidence that Moscow had to prepare for direct conflict with a more assertive Nato in the coming years.

“The activities of the ministry of defence are based on … ensuring full readiness for any scenario in the medium term, including a possible military conflict with Nato in Europe in the next decade,” Mr Belousov told an audience, which included Mr Putin, at his ministry.

Mr Belousov set out a raft of changes and reforms that he said were needed, “taking into account the nature of future military conflicts”.

A bomb killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces and another man in Moscow, the RT state media group said today, citing an unidentified law enforcement source.

Russian media said the that Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who is chief of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, had been killed on Ryazansky Prospekt.

Russian news Telegram channels also reported that Kirillov had been killed but there was no official confirmation of the killing.

TASS state news agency said two people were killed in an explosion on Moscow’s Ryazansky Prospekt.

A criminal investigation was opened in connection with the death of two men on Ryazansky Prospekt, Russia‘s RIA state news agency reported, citing Moscow investigators.

It comes just hours after Estonia’s defence minister Hanno Pevkur issued a stark warning to allies that spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence is simply not enough.

He urged allies to act immediately to boost funding, suggesting one possible method would be to introduce a security tax – something Estonia will be implementing from the new year.

President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video which he said showed Russian soldiers attempting to conceal the identities of dead North Korean servicemen by burning their faces.

Over the weekend, he said that Russia was using North Korean troops in significant numbers for the first time to conduct assaults in Kursk region in southern Russia.

The video posted by Mr Zelensky appeared to show the bodies of North Korean soldiers lying dead in positions where they had been killed. It then showed what appeared to be soldiers setting fire to parts of their bodies on snowy ground.

“Russia is not only involving North Korean soldiers in assaults against Ukrainian positions but is also trying to conceal the losses of these individuals,” the president wrote.

“And now, after battles with our soldiers, the Russians are even attempting to… literally burn the faces of the dead North Korean troops. This is a demonstration of the contempt that now prevails in Russia, a contempt for everything humane.”

North Korean troops fighting inside Russia’s Kursk region have suffered “significant” troop losses, the US said, supporting reports from Ukrainian intelligence.

A White House official said North Korean troops were being moved forward to the frontline, having previously operated deeper inside Russian territory.

“We do believe that they have suffered some significant losses, killed and wounded, but it’s difficult for me to put an actual number on it. I would say, certainly in the realm of dozens, several dozens,” national security communications adviser John Kirby said.

His comments support claims by Ukraine’s military spy agency that at least 30 North Korean soldiers were killed or wounded over the weekend, the first report of North Korean losses in the Ukraine war.

Ukrainian intelligence officials earlier said around 200 Russian and North Korean soldiers were estimated to have been killed while fighting in combined units against Ukrainian forces.

North Korean forces were first sighted in the Kursk region in October and there have been sporadic claims of clashes and casualties since then, though no tallies have been reported.

Ukraine estimates there are 11,000 North Koreans in total operating in Russia near the frontline.

Ukrainian military chief Oleksandr Syrskyi described the fighting as “extremely tough” as he was pictured visiting the Pokrovsk area in Donetsk, where Russian forces have advanced to within just a few miles of the city’s outskirts.

The area is a linchpin of the wider region’s defence and war trackers have expressed concern that should it fall, it could pave the way for Russia to seize swathes of more territory.

The Independent looks at the flashpoints of the frontline, and why some believe these losses will continue unless Ukraine’s military undergoes major changes.