Russia’s nuclear defense forces head killed in explosion

The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, was killed early Tuesday by an explosive device planted close to a residential apartment block in Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

Kirillov’s assistant also died in the blast.

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.

During the almost 3-year operation, Russia has made small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls, reports AP.