Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the assassination of a senior Russian military officer, a major earthquake hitting Vanuatu, and the future of Turkey-European Union relations.
‘Legitimate Target’
Ukraine on Tuesday allegedly carried out one of its most brazen assassinations on a high-ranking Russian official since the Russia-Ukraine war began nearly three years ago. Moscow’s Investigative Committee accused Kyiv’s security services (SBU) of targeting Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear and chemical weapons forces, near a residential building in Moscow. Authorities said an explosive device planted in a scooter detonated near the building’s entryway, killing Kirillov and his aide.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the assassination of a senior Russian military officer, a major earthquake hitting Vanuatu, and the future of Turkey-European Union relations.
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‘Legitimate Target’
Ukraine on Tuesday allegedly carried out one of its most brazen assassinations on a high-ranking Russian official since the Russia-Ukraine war began nearly three years ago. Moscow’s Investigative Committee accused Kyiv’s security services (SBU) of targeting Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s nuclear and chemical weapons forces, near a residential building in Moscow. Authorities said an explosive device planted in a scooter detonated near the building’s entryway, killing Kirillov and his aide.
The Kremlin is treating the incident as a terrorist attack, Investigative Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said. Russian state media called Kirillov’s death a “tragedy,” and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who now serves as the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, pledged “inevitable retaliation” against the “military and political leadership of Ukraine.”
Kyiv has not formally responded to the allegations, but unnamed security sources confirmed Ukraine’s role in the assassination to CBS News. “Kirillov was a war criminal and an absolutely legitimate target, since he gave orders to use prohibited chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military,” one source said. “Such an inglorious end awaits everyone who kills Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable.”
The SBU is believed to be responsible for several assassination campaigns against Russian officials. The United States believes that the agency was behind the 2022 killing of Darya Dugina, a Russian journalist and the daughter of a prominent ally of President Vladimir Putin. And last month, the SBU claimed responsibility for the killing of Valery Trankovsky, a Russian naval officer accused of war crimes for ordering strikes at civilian targets.
Kirillov’s death is the most high-profile assassination of a Kremlin official inside Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The SBU said Kirillov had ordered Russian forces to use chemical weapons on the battlefield more than 4,800 times.
Kirillov’s division also oversaw the protection of Russian troops from chemical and nuclear weapons. He helped develop a thermobaric rocket launcher that the Russian military has reportedly used in Ukraine, and he regularly served as a Kremlin mouthpiece for its propaganda campaign against the West. In 2023, Kirillov accused the United States of planning to deploy drones “designed to spread infected mosquitoes”—an unfounded claim.
On Monday, the SBU charged Kirillov in absentia for the “massive use of banned chemical weapons” in Ukraine, saying that ammunition with toxic compounds were dropped onto Ukrainian positions to force Kyiv’s troops out of their trenches. Canada and the United Kingdom had also imposed sanctions on Kirillov for deploying chemical weapons in Ukraine; in May, the U.S. State Department accused Moscow of using tear gas and chloropicrin—a choking agent used during World War I—on the battlefield.
Russia denied these accusations at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. In May, the intergovernmental body called the situation in Ukraine “volatile and extremely concerning regarding the possible re-emergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons,” but the agency added that allegations of chemical weapons use were “insufficiently substantiated.”
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What We’re Following
Significant damage. A 7.3-magnitude earthquake hit roughly 18 miles off the coast of Vanuatu on Tuesday, knocking out internet connectivity across most of the Pacific island nation. Local authorities and the United Nations have reported at least six deaths and significant damage to the country’s infrastructure, including to the U.S. Embassy in the capital of Port Vila. The quake also triggered small tsunami waves that crashed into Vanuatu’s coast and a 5.5-magnitude aftershock near the same location.
Caretaker Prime Minister Charlot Salwai declared a state of emergency late Tuesday and imposed a seven-day curfew in the worst-affected areas. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Canberra was preparing to deploy search-and-rescue assistance and emergency medical teams, but Vanuatu officials have expressed worry that a “massive landslide” at Port Vila’s Bauerfield International Airport could impede recovery efforts, as damage to the airport’s runway and international shipping terminal has grounded all flights until further notice.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that around 116,000 people have been impacted by the earthquake.
Syrian refugee support. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a roughly $1 billion package on Tuesday to support Syrian refugees in Turkey during her meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The aid, which von der Leyen said can be adapted “as things evolve on the ground,” will add to the roughly $10.5 billion in migration assistance that the European Union has provided Ankara since 2011.
Turkey hosts around 3.2 million Syrian refugees, some of whom are now returning to their home country following the recent fall of President Bashar al-Assad.
Von der Leyen appeared careful to appease Erdogan on Tuesday without overpromising the EU’s support. But the Turkish president still used the meeting to seek better relations with the European bloc. Ankara’s yearslong EU accession bid stalled in 2018 due to democratic backsliding and human rights violations in the country. Now, Erdogan has called on EU leaders to lift “all restrictions” on Turkey. There is room to “advance our cooperation with a win-win formula,” Erdogan said.
A blow to Trudeau. Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unexpectedly resigned on Monday, highlighting growing fissures within Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration. “For the past number of weeks, you and I have found ourselves at odds about the best path forward for Canada,” Freeland wrote in her resignation later.
Freeland accused the prime minister of engaging in “costly political gimmicks” instead of countering U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats; Trump has suggested that he would impose sweeping 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada if Ottawa does not stem the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs across the border. Since then, Trudeau has tried to curry favor with the incoming administration. Last month, Trudeau attended a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, during which Trump joked that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. Freeland was not in attendance.
After nearly 10 years in office, Trudeau is facing growing public discontent. On Monday, Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the opposition New Democratic Party, which Trudeau’s coalition relies on to maintain power, urged the prime minister to resign. Trudeau has named Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, one of his key allies, to replace Freeland.
Odds and Ends
It was the best of times for fans of Charles Dickens’s legendary work. Nearly 1,000 people gathered in the Dutch town of Deventer last Saturday to role-play some of the author’s most iconic characters, from Oliver Twist to Ebenezer Scrooge. Visitors to the annual festival could browse antiques, purchase gingerbread, and sing Christmas carols while mingling with their favorite costumed characters. Organizers enforced a strict dress code for character participants—no clothes after the 1800s—and those dressed as pickpockets had to avoid being thrown into a mock Marshalsea Prison. Bah, humbug!
The post Russia Accuses Ukraine of Assassinating High-Level Russian Military Official appeared first on Foreign Policy.
