Top Russian general, in charge of nuclear protection forces, killed in Moscow

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed in an explosion in Moscow on Tuesday, news agency Reuters reported. The blast occurred outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, near the Kremlin. According to Russian investigative agencies, a bomb hidden in an electric scooter detonated, resulting in the deaths of Kirillov and another individual.

"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," an investigative committee was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Visuals from the scene showed a shattered building entrance with rubble strewn across the area and two bodies lying in blood-stained snow. Authorities have launched a criminal investigation following the incident.