A top general in charge of Russian nuclear protection forces has been killed along with an aide by a bomb hidden in an electric scooter in Moscow, according to Russia’s investigative committee.
A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says the agency claims responsibility for the killing of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov. Ukraine has yet to officially comment.
Kirillov was the head of the country’s radiological, chemical and biological defence, responsible for protection against threats from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
The European Commission says it is not involved in talks to extend a contract to keep Russian gas flowing to Europe via Ukraine. The contract is due to expire at the end of this month.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has met Ukrainian President Volodomy Zelenskyy and said Poland will do “everything in its power” to make Ukraine’s NATO membership a real possibility.
Zelenskyy has said the question of deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine could be raised at a meeting of the leaders of Germany, France, Poland and NATO in Brussels on Wednesday.
The defence alliance has reportedly taken over the coordination of Western military aid to Ukraine from the US in a move widely seen as aiming to safeguard the support mechanism against President-elect and NATO sceptic Donald Trump.
The planned step was confirmed by a source to Reuters. Coming after a delay of several months, the move gives NATO a more direct role in the war against Russia’s invasion while stopping well short of committing its own forces.
Diplomats, however, acknowledged that the handover to NATO may have a limited effect, given that the US under Trump could still deal a major setback to Ukraine by slashing its support.
The US is the alliance’s dominant power and provides the majority of arms to Ukraine. Trump, who will take office in January, has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine swiftly and has long criticised the scale of US financial and military aid to Ukraine.
The Russian parliament has increased punishment for armed rebellion to 15 from 12 years in prison, in response to a mutiny last year by the leader of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, Yevgeny Prigozhin, according to state media.
The TASS news agency reported that in serious cases where deaths result, for example, the penalty has been raised to life from 20 years.
In its session, the Duma also increased punishments for foreigners in Russia who support attacks on the security of the Russian Federation either financially or organisationally.
The law could apply to migrants from Central Asia who assisted Tajik attackers in their assault on a music venue in Moscow in March that killed more than 130 people.
Russian general’s killing a ‘psychological message to undermine morale’
The deadly attack against Igor Kirillov in Moscow shows Ukraine’s “reach” and sends a message to other Russian officials there that they are not safe inside Russian territory, says military analyst Marina Miron.
“This is not the first [assassination]. Certainly, it is the first of such a high-ranking military official. However, there has been confirmation by Western intelligence agencies that Ukraine’s SBU has been behind the assassination of Darya Dugina, for instance,” Miron, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a psychological message to undermine morale. Because if they could get this high-ranking official, a lieutenant general, who will be next?” she said.
Miron added that the killing was likely to raise security concerns for Russian military officials and suggested a weakness in Russian counterintelligence operations.
“It looks like General Kirillov didn’t have any bodyguards, and Russian generals do not seem to travel with bodyguards, meaning that the SBU can freely operate within Russia, within Moscow, despite all the surveillance,” she said. “That raises a lot of concerns in terms of what Russian counterintelligence is doing and how good they are in preventing this network from growing.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his country will do everything in its power to make Ukraine’s NATO membership a real possibility.
His comments came after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv, western Ukraine.
Tusk added that Western countries must do everything to ensure that Ukraine emerges from the war with Russia without losses, with respect for its territory and borders, and with security for the future.
The prime minister of Poland also said that a new border crossing would be opened between the two neighbouring countries in the coming days.
NATO meeting to possibly discuss foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine: Zelenskyy
The Ukrainian president has said the question of deployment of foreign peacekeeping troops in his country could potentially be raised at a meeting of the leaders of Germany, France, Poland and NATO, among others, that will be in Brussels on Wednesday.
Speaking at joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the issue of strengthening Ukraine on the battlefield and geopolitically could also be discussed.
A spokesperson for the European Commission says the EU institution is not involved in talks to extend a contract to keep Russian gas flowing to Europe via Ukraine. The contract is due to expire at the end of this month.
“The Commission has no interest in the continuation of Russian gas transit via Ukraine,” the spokesperson said in emailed responses to questions, according to Reuters.
“The Commission does not support any discussions on the contract extension nor other solutions to maintain transit flows and has not been involved in any kind of negotiations on this.”
On Monday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine was willing to devise a deal enabling gas to transit through its territory to Western Europe but ruled out any extension of an existing deal with Russia.
“To this effect, if the European Commission officially approaches Ukraine about the transit of any gas other than Russian, we naturally will discuss it and are ready to reach an appropriate agreement,” Shmyhal said.
“I stressed that Ukraine’s agreement with Russia on gas transit comes to an end on January 1, 2025, and will not be extended.”
Shmyhal said much had already been done in recent years with EU countries “to secure reliable gas supplies and prevent the use of any type of energy as a weapon”.
Al Jazeera