Kyiv had a day earlier charged Kirillov in absentia on allegations of committing “war crimes” against Ukraine.
The SBU on Monday said it had documented more than 4,800 cases of Russia using chemical munitions since the start of the conflict in February 2022.
‘Won’t mourn’
Britain and the United States have accused Russia of using the toxic agent chloropicrin, a choking agent used widely in World War I, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
On Tuesday a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London was “not going to mourn” Kirillov’s death, saying he had “imposed suffering and death on the Ukrainian people”.
A US official said Tuesday on condition of anonymity that “the US was not aware of the operation in advance and we do not support or enable these kind of activities”.
White House spokesman John Kirby earlier told CNN it was “without question” that the Russian military had “used chemical weapons and other agents to kill, to maim, to hurt the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian soldiers”.
Russia has said it no longer possesses a military chemical arsenal.
In lengthy televised briefings, Kirillov had regularly accused Kyiv and the West of running secret networks of bio-labs that were developing banned chemical agents across Ukraine — claims rejected by the West and independent fact-checking organisations.
© 2024 AFP
