AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A Russian lieutenant general accused of using banned chemicals on Ukrainian soldiers was assassinated today in Moscow. It is the highest-profile killing of a Russian military official outside the front line. A source from inside Ukraine's security service says that they were behind the attack, which involved an exploding scooter. NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports from Kyiv.
JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Igor Kirillov oversaw chemical, biological and nuclear warfare for Russia. The United Kingdom sanctioned the lieutenant general in October, saying he was responsible for deploying chemical weapons against Ukrainian soldiers. The same month, Kirillov denied this. He told Russian lawmakers that Ukraine was the one using chemical weapons.
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IGOR KIRILLOV: (Through interpreter) Let me remind you that our country destroyed all stockpiles of chemical weapons in September 2017, and this was done ahead of schedule.
KAKISSIS: On Monday, Ukrainian prosecutors accused the general of war crimes. They said he authorized the use of ammunition with toxic chemicals on Ukrainian troops in an effort to force them out of trenches. Today, Kirillov and his assistant stood at the entrance to a residential building in Moscow, where Russian media say Kirillov lived. Nearby was an electric scooter strapped with hidden explosives. Someone detonated them remotely, killing both Kirillov and the assistant.
A source within Ukraine's security service told NPR that it was behind the killing. The source spoke under condition of anonymity because this person is not allowed to release the information. Ukraine's security service says Russia has used chemical agents on Ukrainian soldiers nearly 5,000 times. Ukrainian Colonel Artem Vlasiuk told reporters at a briefing last week about the effects of those chemical attacks.
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ARTEM VLASIUK: (Through interpreter) Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 2,000 soldiers have been sent to medical facilities with various degrees of poisoning by chemical agents, including banned agents.
KAKISSIS: Meanwhile, in Moscow, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's security council, called the general's killing a terrorist attack. Writing on the Telegram social media app, he vowed that Ukrainian leaders would face retribution for the assassination.
Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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