Two bodies lay in the blood-soaked snow on the sidewalk of Ryazan Avenue, in an eastern Moscow suburb. Their heads pointed in opposite directions. One toward the black car with the shattered windshield from which they had just emerged, the other toward the front door of the building to which they were heading. A little further on, near the wall, under the debris of glass, bricks and sheet metal, an electric scooter with 300 grams of explosives concealed in its battery.

The explosion, which is believed to have been triggered remotely, took place at around 6 am on Tuesday, December 17, according to eyewitnesses quoted by the Russian Telegram channel Mash. The commander of Russia's radiological, chemical and biological defense forces, Igor Kirillov, dressed in black, and his assistant in military fatigues, were probably killed instantly.

This murder appears to be part of a campaign of dozens of targeted assassinations carried out by Ukrainian secret services on Russian soil against military officials or Ukrainian officials who have defected. To date, Kirillov, 54, is the most senior Russian military official to have been killed outside a combat zone since the start of Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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