!['We target the specialists' Death in Moscow suburb cements SBU's reputation for swift, brutal revenge 'We target the specialists' Death in Moscow suburb cements SBU's reputation for swift, brutal revenge](https://cdn.magzter.com/1588175106/1734491562/articles/b5NWUw20Jb5VJjNE6swsys/WE-TARGET-THE-SPECIALISTS-DEATH-IN-MOSCOW-SUBURB-CEMENTS-SBUS-REPUTATION-FOR-SWIFT-BRUTAL-REVENGE.jpg)
Blood was visible on a thin coating of white snow. Wreckage was strewn over the pavement: broken glass, bricks, door frames, and an e-scooter tossed into a corner by a mighty explosion.
Two men had been leaving a residential building when the blast happened. It was 6.12am. One was Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division. Kirillov was a key player in Moscow's ruthless war against Ukraine. The other was Kirillov's assistant. Video shows their last moments as they walked into the street. Both appear to have died instantly.
The assassination took place in a suburban part of south-east Moscow, on Ryazansky Avenue. The district is home to high-rise buildings, shopping malls and an attractive neighbourhood park, Kuskovo, with an 18th-century wooden palace and ornamental lake. The frontline in Ukraine is 650 miles (1,045km) or a gruelling 15-hour-drive from the capital.
Seemingly, this epic distance had not deterred Ukraine's SBU security service from carrying out Kirillov's killing. Sources in Kyiv confirmed that the agency was responsible. The general's death was the SBU's most audacious operation to date - a strike designed to instil panic and fear among senior Kremlin and army figures.
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