tisdag 17 december 2024

Killed the general in Moscow

Ukraine reportedly killed the general: “War criminal and a completely legitimate target”

Ukraine’s security service killed top Russian general Igor Kirillov, security sources told Ukrainian media and the international news agencies Reuters and AFP. He was charged yesterday by Ukraine with committing war crimes.

– Kirillov was a war criminal and a completely legitimate target, as he gave the order to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military, the source told the Kyiv Independent.

According to the independent Moscow Times, the explosion was very powerful. It took place outside an apartment building in Moscow and shattered the windows between the first and fourth floors. The entrance door was destroyed, as were three nearby cars.

Photos and videos published by the independent Russian news channel Astra on Telegram show Kirillov and his colleague lying with their heads down in the snow. The photos also show how the scooter, where the explosive device was supposedly hidden, is buried under rubble.
 
Analysis: Embarrassing for Putin – alarm bells ringing

Embarrassing for the Kremlin, writes Sky News defence and security editor Deborah Haynes after reports that Ukraine killed top general Igor Kirillov in the middle of Moscow. She believes that this will certainly cause “alarm bells to ring in the Kremlin”.

“Moscow will certainly try to retaliate”, writes Haynes in the analysis.

Kirillov had become famous, or rather infamous, for spreading Russian disinformation during “bizarre” appearances at the Russian defence ministry, writes the BBC’s Paul Kirby.

“But Kirillov was much more than a spokesman”, he writes, noting that the general headed the Russian army’s chemical and biological warfare department.

The attack is said to send shockwaves through the Russian political and military elite, writes The Guardian’s Russia correspondent Pyotr Sauer. A Russian source tells Sauer that personal protection is likely to increase around other high-ranking figures in the security services.

– This will undoubtedly cause a stir, the source says.
 
Ukraine: Not involved – we do not use terror

Ukrainian security sources say that Ukraine carried out the assassination of top Russian general Igor Kirillov, but the official tone is different.

On the radio program The Breakfast Show, President Zelensky’s advisor Mykhailo Podoliak said that there is no connection between the war crimes charges against Kirillov that Ukraine brought yesterday and today’s attack, Meduza reports.

According to Podoliak, Ukraine does not use “terrorist-like methods.”

– Decisions regarding one or another general are made on the battlefield with us, and not anywhere else.

He believes that Kirillov’s death is more likely due to an internal conflict that has escalated.

Inga kommentarer:

Skicka en kommentar