The head of Russia’s nuclear defense forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — The head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defence Forces, Lt. General Igor Kirillov, was killed early Tuesday by an explosive device planted close to a residential apartment block in Moscow, Russia’s Investigative Committee said.

Kirillov’s assistant also died in the blast.

Kirillov was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court Monday for the use of banned chemical weapons during Russia’s military operation in Ukraine that started in Feb. 2022.

During the almost 3-year operation, Russia has made small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls.