A high-ranking general in the Russian armed forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, head of the Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Defence Forces (NBC), was leaving a residential block early on Tuesday when a device hidden in a scooter was detonated, Russia’s investigative committee said.

It added that Kirillov’s assistant was also killed.

In October, the UK placed sanctions on Kirillov, saying he had overseen the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine and acted as a “significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation”.

On Monday, Ukraine’s secret service, the SBU, charged him in absentia, saying on Telegram he was “responsible for the mass use of banned chemical weapons”.