On the 1028th day of war in Ukraine, a Uzbek citizen, one of the two detainees for the death of Igor Kirillov, reportedly confessed to placing the explosive device. An action that ended the life of the highest-ranking Russian military officer killed inside Russia by Ukraine, for which he was allegedly offered $100,000 and residency in a European country.
Russia's main state investigative agency is probing Kirillov's death, accused by Kiev of using chemical weapons on the front line, as a terrorism case, and Moscow authorities promised to punish Ukraine. The Ukrainian security service claimed responsibility.
Moscow has intensified its attacks against Ukrainian forces fighting to maintain a foothold in the Russian region of Kursk and increased pressure in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.
As the war approaches its third year, the Ukrainian troops are tired and outnumbered along the 1,170 km (727 miles) front line.
"For the third day, the enemy is carrying out intensive assaults in the Kursk region", where Russia is "actively" using North Korean troops, who are suffering significant losses.
Ukraine launched an incursion into the Kursk region in August but has since lost over 40% of the territory it controlled.
Russia's Investigative Committee reported in a statement on Wednesday that the suspect confessed to them that he had come to Moscow to carry out a mission for Ukraine's intelligence services, who offered him $100,000 for his role in the murder and residency in a European country, reports Xavier Colás.
In a video distributed by the Baza Telegram channel, close to Russian security services, the suspect is seen wearing a winter coat and recounting that he came to Moscow on the orders of Ukraine's intelligence services, bought an electric scooter, and later received an improvised explosive device to carry out the attack months later. He also describes how he placed the device in the electric scooter parked in front of the entrance to Kirillov's apartment building.
The organizers of the attack recruited the perpetrators through instant messaging chats, providing them with contacts of an SBU liaison officer.
The suspect installed a surveillance camera in a nearby rental car, so the organizers of the murder, who according to his testimony were in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, used the camera to see what was happening. "They detonated the explosive device remotely," the Investigative Committee reported. However, the man says in the video that he did it himself: "When [the general] left the house, I pressed the button. Why did I do this, for what? I was offered $100,000 and a European passport." The Shot and Baza channels report that the suspect's name is Ajmad Kurbanov. He was arrested in the village of Chernoye, near Moscow. Russia arrests a suspect in the murder of its general in Moscow.