Key points
- Yaroslav Moskalik was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow
- Russia blamed Ukraine for the killing and has started an investigation
- Scores of pro-war Russian figures have been killed since 2022
ISLAMABAD: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised his country’s foreign intelligence service for the killing of top Russian military figures in targeted attacks in Russia.
The Ukrainian president did not make any mention of a senior Russian officer killed last week.
Yaroslav Moskalik, the deputy head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, was killed in a car bombing outside Moscow.
Russia blamed Ukraine for the killing and started an investigation.
Targeted killings
According to Reuters, authorities in Kyiv have made no direct comment on the attack on Moskalik, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures killed since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky’s remarks, on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to any specific instance of Russian military officers being killed.
“The head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence reported on the liquidation of persons from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice inevitably is done,” Zelensky said, referring to the agency’s head, Oleg Ivashchenko.
“Good results”
“The head reported on further measures to counter Russian agent networks in Ukraine and saboteurs. Good results. Thank you for your work,” the president said.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service said it killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, last December in Moscow.
A Moscow court at the weekend ordered a Ukrainian national facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack on Moskalik to be remanded in custody.
