Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) claimed responsibility for Kirillov’s murder, a Ukrainian law enforcement official told POLITICO after being granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target since he gave orders to use banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military. Such an inglorious end awaits all who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable,” the official said.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said later on Tuesday that Russia will retaliate for Kirillov’s assassination.
“Everything must be done to destroy those who ordered the murder of General Kirillov, this military-political leadership of Ukraine,” Medvedev said during the Russian state defense procurement meeting.
A few hours before the attack, the SBU charged Kirillov in absentia for ordering the massive use of banned chemical weapons against the Ukrainian army on the eastern and southern fronts of the battlefield.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale war, following Kirillov’s orders, the Russian army used different types of banned chemical munitions against Ukraine more than 4,800 times,” the SBU said in a statement Monday.