The Associated Press (“AP News”) reports that the head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, Lt. General Igor Kirillov (54), was killed today (12/17/2024) after a bomb hidden in a scooter outside his Moscow apartment building exploded. The apparent assassination occurred one day after Ukraine’s Security Service (“SBU”) filed criminal charges against the general, with a Ukrainian official asserting that the SBU was responsible for the attack.
General Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in Russia’s war against Ukraine. Yesterday (12/16/2024), the SBU launched a criminal investigation against Kirillov, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an SBU official described Kirillov as a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target.”
The SBU asserts it has documented more than 4,800 instances when Russia used chemical weapons on the battlefield since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In May 2024, the U.S. State Department claimed it had evidence that Russia has used chloropicrin (a lung-damaging poisonous gas first deployed in World War I) against Ukrainian troops.
The AP News article may be read in its entirety HERE.
As this writer has stated many times before, Russia’s war against Ukraine, which started on February 24, 2022, continues to this day. Russia mercilessly considers the loss of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, as well as Russian and Ukrainian (and now North Korean) troops and equipment, to be justified. Lord have mercy!
If you have read any of this writer’s articles regarding Ukraine, you know that I am a STRONG and unapologetic supporter of Ukraine and U.S. support for Ukraine in this unprovoked war of aggression by Russia. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, this is a war of choice, not a ‘just’ war.
The Russia-Ukraine War is an evil war being pursued with little to no concern for the loss of lives in Ukraine or even for Russia’s own military members. Russia suffers under the leadership of Putin, who is a former Soviet KGB officer seeking the destruction of Ukraine and the death of Ukraine’s elected president in an apparent effort to relive the ‘glory’ days of the former Soviet Union and the Cold War — placing all NATO-aligned nations at potential risk if left unchecked.
As followers of Christ, let’s continue to pray for Ukraine, and all of the surrounding nations, asking the Lord to change hearts and to bring a just and quick end to Russia’s evil attack against the free and sovereign nation of Ukraine and its people. Let’s pray that Ukraine’s civilian and military leadership would make decisions in accord with the wisdom and the will of God. Millions of lives, both Ukrainian and Russian, face untold human suffering and are at great risk.
As the Bible succinctly and profoundly states:
Psalm 34:14 (Amplified Bible)
“Turn away from evil and do good; [s]eek peace and pursue it.”
Isaiah 5:20 (NKJV)
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; [w]ho put darkness for light, and light for darkness; [w]ho put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, [n]or are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, [s]o are My ways higher than your ways, [a]nd My thoughts than your thoughts.’”
