The Investigative Committee of Russia said that an explosive device was planted near a residential apartment building in Moscow, killing Lt. General Igor Kirillov, the head Russian Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces.

Kirillov’s deputy also died, according to officials, in the explosion, which was triggered by a device placed in a motorized scooter.

Russian state-run news agency Tass, citing anonymous sources from the emergency services, reported that the bomb was remotely triggered.

According to Svetlana Petronka, the spokesperson for the committee, Russian investigators opened a probe into these two deaths.

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In a press release, she stated that “investigators and forensic experts are on the scene.”

“Investigative activities and searches are underway to determine all the circumstances surrounding this crime.”

On Dec. 16, Ukraine’s Security Services charged Kirillov of using banned chemical weapons in Russia’s military operations in Ukraine, which began in February 2022.

The SBU (Ukraine’s Security Service) said that it had documented more than 4,800 chemical weapons being used on the battlefields since February 2022. This includes K-1 combat grenades.

In May, US State Department said that they had also recorded the use against Ukrainian troops of chloropicrin – a chemical weapon used for the first time in World War I.

Kirillov was sanctioned by several countries, including the UK and Canada, for his role in Ukraine.

During its almost three-year-long operation, Russia added a small but steady amount of territory to the near-one-fifth that it already controls.