Ukraine kills Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov in Moscow

for “the Motherland” to expose what she said were the West’s chemical weapons-related and other crimes and what Moscow says were cover-ups in Syria and elsewhere.

Britain in October imposed sanctions on Kirillov and his nuclear defence forces for using riot control agents and over multiple reports of the use of the toxic choking agent chloropicrin on the battlefield.

Such agents, Ukraine has alleged, are used to disorientate its troops leaving them unable to defend themselves against Russian attacks.

Kirillov was murdered a day after Ukrainian state prosecutors were reported to have charged him in absentia with the alleged use of banned chemical weapons, the Kyiv Independent cited the SBU as saying at the time.

The lieutenant general was also listed in a sprawling unofficial Ukrainian database of people considered to be enemies of the country called Myrotvorets (Peacemaker). A photograph of Kirillov on the website was overwritten with the word “Liquidated” in red letters on Tuesday morning.

Russia says Ukraine has carried out a string of targeted assassinations on its soil since the start of Moscow’s full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022.