WASHINGTON — On a snow-covered sidewalk in a bleak residential area of Moscow, blood, soot and the mangled remains of an electric scooter mark the spot where Russia’s top commander was assassinated, raising the specter of a potential war in Ukraine. This signaled a dangerous new stage.
The bombing that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov and his aides just a month before President-elect Donald Trump was inaugurated is widely believed to have been carried out by Ukraine, which has stopped short of officially claiming responsibility. However, it had quietly abandoned its security role. The service becomes known.
Kirillov, 54, became the highest-ranking Russian military member to die outside the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly three years ago. With the next U.S. president vowing to end the fighting quickly, analysts are scrambling to land major blows as both sides aim to maximize leverage in future negotiations. is analyzed.
“This is a new and horrifying phase in this war,” former Ukrainian government minister Timofi Milovanov wrote in It was criticized as part of the
Russian state media, citing investigators, said the early morning explosion that killed Kirillov and his assistant was suspected to be an act of terrorism, but was caused by an explosive device placed on a scooter parked near the entrance to the apartment complex. said.
Ukrainian authorities had made it abundantly clear that they considered Kirillov a legitimate target. Just the day before, Kiev authorities charged the general in absentia with ordering the use of chemical weapons, which are banned in Ukraine.
The Biden administration also linked Kirillov to Russia’s use of the chemical agent chloropicrin, a poisonous gas with origins in the trenches of World War I, against Ukrainian troops on the country’s southern and eastern fronts.
The State Department, joined at various times by the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, imposed sanctions over Russia’s alleged violations of the 30-year-old Chemical Weapons Convention.
In his capacity as commander of Russia’s Radiological, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, the general has claimed that the Ukrainian military uses toxic substances and is planning a radioactive attack, and has launched an international campaign against whistleblowers. They often fought back against the accusations publicly. Ukraine and its supporters denied these claims.
As it had done at many key points in the war, Russia vowed harsh retaliation for the killing. Kremlin Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev promised “imminent retaliation” in kind against Ukrainian dignitaries. Russia’s mission to the United Nations said it would raise the issue with the Security Council, a permanent member of the country.
Some analysts said the killing was likely to be a precursor to talks in which Russia and Ukraine, each in a weak position, are desperately trying to avoid negotiations.
“I think this is a significant escalation,” analyst Ian Bremer said of the killing, citing Kirillov’s status and importance. In an analysis posted online to his GZERO media, Bremer suggested that the escalating moves by both sides in the dispute likely reflect a belief that “negotiations will begin soon.”
Although Kirillov’s murder was particularly bold and attracted attention, it was not an unprecedented attack. Last week, a top engineer for a cruise missile deployed with the aim of wreaking havoc and death on Ukrainian cities was reportedly targeted and killed in Moscow.
These attacks against civilian targets have increased in pace and intensity in recent weeks, often targeting Ukraine’s power grid due to the cold snap.
On the battlefield, the Ukrainian army, outnumbered and outgunned, is increasingly in dire straits. In the bloody war of attrition on the Eastern Front, the Russian army has been steadily gaining ground.
Moreover, the area of some Russian territory captured by Ukraine in the surprise invasion in late summer is shrinking, and Russia has committed North Korean troops to intensify its push to regain positions in the Kursk region. are.
President Trump’s election victory in November sent shivers of fear across Ukraine. So people closely tracked his campaign comments that disparaged the vital billions of dollars of Western support for Kiev.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy quickly turned his attention to a kind of public relations move, saying he needed everything from personal prestige to possible access to Ukraine’s mineral resources to avoid capitulating to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He tried to convince President Trump that there were clear benefits.
The president-elect and Mr. Zelenskiy met in Paris this month, which came as the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders attended a grand reopening ceremony for Notre Dame Cathedral, which was destroyed by fire in 2019. The deal was mediated by President Macron.
Even before he took office, President Trump had stoked fears within Ukraine and among U.S. allies over the possibility of withholding critical aid.
Last month, after months of public pleas from Mr. Zelensky, President Biden reversed course and granted Ukraine permission to use U.S.-supplied long-range missiles in strikes against military targets deep inside Russian territory. considered this an important advance. On Monday, President Trump held a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort, calling the decision “stupid” and suggesting he would reverse it.
Hours after the targeted bombing of Kirillov in Moscow, President Zelenskyy spoke remotely to a regional alliance summit and did not mention the general’s killing. But he expressed hope that negotiations could begin soon.
“Everyone understands that next year could be the year this war ends. We have to make it happen,” the Ukrainian leader said. But he added: “We need to establish peace in a way that President Putin can no longer break.”
