Putin’s assassinated cronies: How prime Kremlin figures have been picked off by snipers and blown up by exploding statue and e-scooter booby traps in wave of hits since begin of Ukraine battle

A peaceful daybreak in a snowy Moscow suburb was shattered this morning when a fatal explosion rang out at the foot of an apartment block.

The blast – orchestrated by Ukraine’s SBU security service – successfully eliminated Igor Kirillov, one of Vladimir Putin’s top army generals in charge of nuclear and biological forces, along with his assistant Ilya Polikarpov.

Shocking images showed their bloodied corpses lying on the snow-covered pavement outside a tower block whose brickwork was left blackened following the small but powerful explosion from a device planted on an electric scooter parked outside.

Russian investigators revealed that the lethal charge was triggered remotely after they discovered a camera installed in a nearby rental car pointing at the building’s foyer from which Kirillov and his ill-fated assistant emerged.

Sources within the SBU confirmed to international press that the perfectly orchestrated hit was indeed the work of Kyiv’s operatives.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, described the attack as an attempt by Kyiv to distract public attention from its military failures and vowed that its ‘senior military-political leadership will face inevitable retribution.’

But Kirillov’s death is just the latest in a string of recent assassinations of high-ranking Russian scientists, military chiefs and pro-Kremlin politicians both on Russian soil and in occupied Ukraine.

What follows is an extensive, but by no means exhaustive, list of some of the most cold-blooded assassinations of key pro-Russian figures since full-scale war broke out in Ukraine almost three years ago.

Igor Kirillov 

Kirillov, 54, had served as the Chief of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defence Troops since 2017.

He is believed to be the most senior military officer to be assassinated since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

The bombing – claimed by the Ukrainian security services – came a day after Kyiv had accused Kirillov of overseeing the widespread use of banned chemical weapons against its troops in the conflict zone.

Charging him in absentia with war crimes, the SBU said he was responsible for more than 4,800 documented cases of Russian troops using chemical munitions since the start of the full-scale war.

‘Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians. Retribution for war crimes is inevitable,’ the SBU source said. 

The Russian investigative committee confirmed the army general’s death, adding that investigations had been opened into the bombing. Russia has denied allegations it has used chemical weapons in Ukraine. 

Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a shattered entrance to a building littered with rubble and two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow. 

The entrance door of the house itself was torn off and the windows were broken, while the general’s official car which had arrived to collect him at 6am was also damaged.

The bomb was hidden in or on an electric scooter at the scene, which emergency crews could be seen inspecting.

Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries including the UK and Canada for his role in Ukraine. 

Mikhail Shatsky

Mikhail Shatsky, one of Russia’s leading missile scientists, was ruthlessly gunned down as he strolled through a Moscow park earlier this month. 

Shatsky was the Deputy Chief Designer at the Mars Design Bureau, which develops and manufactures onboard guidance systems for the Russian military and space industry.

He was shot dead by an unknown assassin in Kuzminsky forest park at Kotelniki, eight miles southeast of the Kremlin.

Russian reports the scientist’s work was instrumental in upgrading the capabilities of cruise missiles routinely used by Putin’s armed forces to batter targets across Ukraine.

He was also responsible for advancing Russia’s fleet of high-tech drones, and was reportedly leading the charge in incorporating AI technology into unmanned aerial vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft. 

Shatsky’s death was first reported by exiled Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov, who claimed the scientist’s assassin was working with Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence Directorate (GUR).

‘Today, the GUR forces in Moscow eliminated a particularly malicious criminal – Deputy General Designer, Head of the Software Department of the Mars Design Bureau, Mikhail Shatsky,’ Nevzorov said last week. 

‘He was involved in upgrading the Kh-59 cruise missiles to the Kh-69 level, introducing new UAVs, and is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Ukrainians.’

Nevzorov also published macabre pictures of what was believed to be Shatsky’s corpse lying in the snow.

The Mars Design Bureau is one of several technology companies operating under the umbrella of Russia’s giant state-owned nuclear and tech conglomerate Rosatom.  

Sergey Yevsyukov

The death of Sergey Yevsyukov was undoubtedly welcomed by countless Ukrainian families.

The 49-year-old Russian military officer had developed particular notoriety for heading the infamous Olenivka prison – a facility in the occupied Donetsk region where Russian troops are alleged to have interrogated and tortured Ukrainian PoWs.

He was blown apart in a brutal car bombing earlier this month, while his wife was reportedly rushed to hospital and left in a critical condition before undergoing a leg amputation. 

The injuries were confirmed by the adviser to the Russian-installed mayor of Mariupol.

The warden’s battered Toyota Land Cruiser was seen undergoing inspections by investigators after Yevsyukov’s bloodied corpse and his severely injured wife were pulled free by emergency services. 

Olenivka was one of the main facilities in occupied Ukraine used to house Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered in the summer of 2022 after their months-long holdout at the Azovstal steel plant following the siege of Mariupol. 

Ukrainians who spent time in Olenivka before being returned home in prisoner exchanges have told tales of starvation and heinous torture at the jail.

In July 2022, a part of the barracks at Olenivka was devastated by a large explosion that killed dozens and injured more than 100 Ukrainian PoWs held there during Yevsyukov’s tenure as chief warden. 

Russia and Ukraine blamed each other for the destruction of Olenivka, a case which remains unsolved. 

But a UN report issued in July 2023 – almost one year on from the horrific incident – said that Russian authorities had consistently blocked attempts by various international bodies to investigate the blast site at Olenivka. 

It also dismissed Russian claims that the prison was destroyed by a Ukrainian missile strike, claiming that the scale of the damage and the images from the scene were not consistent with such weaponry.  

Valery Trankovsky

Senior Russian Naval officer Valery Trankovsky was assassinated in a Ukrainian-claimed car bombing in the Crimean city of Sevastopol last month. 

A source in the SBU confirmed to international press that a bomb was planted underneath the car of Trankovsky and detonated as he drove along Taras Shevchenko street, which is named after Ukraine’s most famous poet.

The Navy officer, who was considered a high-ranking, priority target, held the position of Chief of Staff of the 41st brigade of Russia’s missile ships in the Black Sea.

Those vessels had bombarded Ukraine with missiles and were responsible for organising blockades of ports in southern Ukraine earlier in the war, reportedly on the orders of Trankovsky. 

As a result, the SBU had long marked him as a ‘legitimate’ target, claiming his orders to strike civilian targets in Ukraine were tantamount to a commission of war crimes.

Russia’s state Investigative Committee has since arrested two suspects – a 47-year-old man accused of making and detonating the bomb, and a 38-year-old woman who it said had carried out surveillance on the target.

In a video published by Russian military news outlet Zvezda, the pair were shown confessing to the crime. The man said he had been recruited by the SBU in the summer of 2023 and given the task of ‘liquidating’ a high-ranking military officer.

Their faces were blurred out in the video and it was not clear if they were speaking freely or under duress.

Mash, a Telegram channel close to Russia’s security services, said Trankovsky had been tailed for a week prior to the attack. 

Nikita Klenkov

Nikita Klenkov was believed to have been a top Russian GRU military intelligence officer.

He was shot dead in the village of Melenki near the Russian capital days after he had returned to Moscow from the Ukrainian frontline in October.

The 44-year-old was killed instantly when an unknown assailant fired three shots from another car through the window of the serviceman’s vehicle as he trundled past.

Local media claimed law enforcement sources believed the killer had knowledge of Klenkov’s movements and had been lying in wait for him to drive past.

Images from the scene showed how Klenkov’s white SUV had continued rolling after he was assassinated and ploughed into an unsuspecting civilian’s garden before slamming into a fence.

Klenkov was the deputy commander of a special forces unit, according to independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta.

The site of Klenkov’s murder is located less than 20 minutes’ drive from the Special Operations Training Centre where he reportedly worked to train Russian operators ahead of their deployment to Ukraine. 

Investigators later discovered a discarded gun in the foliage near to the site of the shooting that was believed to be the murder weapon. 

Klenkov’s murder remains unsolved.  

Ilya Kyva

The more recent killings laid out above follow dozens more assassinations of various high-ranking Russian officials, military chiefs and pro-Russian sympathisers that have occurred since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. 

Among the more high-profile assassinations was that of Ilya Kyva, a former Kyiv MP turned Putin puppet labelled a traitor by Ukraine’s authorities.

Kyva, 46, was gunned down in December 2023 as he went for a walk in a supposedly safe location at a country club near Moscow. 

Images from the scene showed his body lying in the snow and the weapons supposedly used to ‘liquidate’ him hanging on a tree nearby. 

A video clip also emerged that purported to show Kyva’s assassin lying in wait.

Ukraine’s SBU secret service made clear the images and footage were deliberately released as a warning to other Ukrainians collaborating with Vladimir Putin’s invading forces.

‘This is a signal to all traitors and war criminals who have gone over to the enemy’s side,’ a Ukrainian source told media. 

‘Remember, Russia will not protect you… Death is the only prospect that awaits the enemies of Ukraine.’

This followed a statement by SBU spokesman Andriy Yusov who told Ukrainian TV: ‘We can confirm Kyva is no more. This fate will befall other traitors of Ukraine and puppets of Putin’s regime.’

Kyva was a former policeman and Ukrainian government official, having led the Socialist party in the Ukrainian parliament from 2017-2019.

In 2019 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Ukrainian presidency, but then turned to Russia. He asked Putin for political asylum and a Russian passport.

It is believed his assassin planned the hit after Kyva posted a video on social media boasting how he was using the country club as his ‘office’ and showing his walking route through the grounds.  

Oleg Popov

The murder of Kyva came days before a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian politician branded a war criminal by Kyiv was targeted in a car bombing in occupied Luhansk.

Oleg Popov, who held the position of Deputy of the People’s Council of the Luhansk People’s Republic, died instantly when his car erupted into flames amid an explosion near the city’s Avangard stadium.

The Kyiv Post reported that the ‘special operation’ was organised by the SBU with the report later corroborated by an SBU source who spoke to Ukraine’s Pravda outlet.

Popov, 51, was described as a ‘quite legitimate target, because before becoming a deputy he managed many Russian volunteer battalions, led illegal armed formations, and killed Ukrainians’.

‘Undermining the leader is the best advertisement for the effectiveness of this committee’s work,’ the source said. 

The assassination of Popov was the second attempt on his life. 

The Russian politician and former military man narrowly survived the first attack in September 2022, but Russian media reported he had died as a result of a contract killing. 

He disappeared from the public eye before silently returning to work in February 2023 – a move that Ukrainian media put down to a Russian ‘operational game’.

Popov secured a high-ranking position in the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic after years of operating in the region.

He was responsible for arming and leading separatist forces who grabbed territory in Luhansk in 2014. 

Stanislav Rzhitsky

A Russian submarine captain was shot dead while out for a jog in a revenge hit in July 2023.

Stanislav Rzhitsky, 42, was seen jogging along a river in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar while being followed by a mystery cyclist in leaked security footage.

Minutes later, he was cut down by seven bullets. 

Ukrainian-born judo teacher Sergei Denisenko, 64, confessed to killing the submarine captain on the ‘instructions’ of Ukrainian intelligence after he was arrested, according to claims by Russian media. 

He was arrested after Russian authorities stormed his flat and reportedly found a pistol and a silencer that was believed to be the murder weapon. 

He had prepared for the mission since December and was detained before he was due to fly via Turkey to Switzerland – where he has Ukrainian refugee status.

It was later reported that Denisenko managed to track down Rzhitsky via the Strava app – a social fitness site where users can upload their recorded workouts along with GPS-tracking data.

Rzhitsky routinely ran a similar route at a similar time, allowing the assassin to coordinate the hit. 

Ukraine’s GUR confirmed Rzhitsky was assassinated and published details of his killing on the website, but did not say whether Denisenko had been hired to pull the trigger.

Rzhitsky was the deputy head of the Russian military mobilisation office in Krasnodar and had previously commanded the ‘Krasnodar’ submarine in the Black Sea.

The hit on him was planned as a revenge attack after the Krasnodar submarine authored a fatal missile strike that killed some 23 people in the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia.

But it was later revealed Rzhitsky had retired from active military duty in 2021, months before the submarine launched the missile strike. 

Vladlen Tatarsky

The death of Vladlen Tatarsky, one of Russia’s most prominent military bloggers and pro-Kremlin propaganda mouthpieces, made headlines around the world.

Tatarsky – real name Maxim Fomin – was killed in April 2023 at a meet-and-greet event he was holding at a cafe St Petersburg when a miniature statue handed to him as a gift exploded, injuring several others present. 

Born in eastern Ukraine, Tatarsky was a convicted bank robber who escaped from prison to fight with Russian-backed separatists against Ukraine’s armed forces when the conflict first broke out in 2014.

He subsequently defected to Russia and advocated for a much more aggressive military campaign against Ukraine, becoming a leading blogger.

His killer, Russian woman Darya Trepova, was tracked down by authorities and arrested as a prime suspect less than 24 hours after the fatal blast. 

After a lengthy investigation, she was handed a 27-year prison sentence after being found guilty on terror charges in January.

Prosecutors alleged she had been contracted by Kyiv to assassinate Tatarsky.

But the Russian denied purposefully killing the pro-Kremlin media personality, telling the court at her sentencing that her ‘conscience was clear’.

She instead argued that she was set up by contacts in Ukraine and thought the statue simply concealed a listening device, not a bomb.

The Russian court ignored her plea. She will be aged 53 when she is freed. 

Darya Dugina

The death of Darya Dugina, a pro-Kremlin media personality and journalist, was one of the first high-profile assassinations of a well-known figure on Russian soil following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Dugina was killed when her car exploded as she travelled along a motorway just outside Moscow on August 20, 2022. 

Investigators confirmed an explosive device had been planted underneath her Toyota Land Cruiser and activated remotely. 

Russian media reports said the bomb had the strength of between 400 and 800 grams of TNT – considerably larger than more recent car bombings that targeted the likes of Yevsyukov, Trankovsky and Popov. 

Besides her position as a notable pro-Kremlin commentator, Dugina was the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a leading Russian ultranationalist philosopher who is a close ally and supporter of Putin. 

Both were travelling along the motorway when the explosion occurred, but Dugin was in a separate vehicle.

A shocking image from the scene of the explosion showed Dugin staring at the burning wreck of his daughter’s vehicle, eyes wide open as he clutched his head in terror and grief.

The assassination remains unsolved, though several theories emerged offering different culprits.

Russian authorities blamed Ukraine’s security services for the hit, while former Russian lawmaker turned exiled journalist Ilya Ponomarev claimed a dissident Russian group, the NRA, was responsible. 

In the days following the assassination, Putin expressed his ‘sincere condolences’ to Dugina’s family, writing in a message: ‘A vile, cruel crime ended the life of Darya Dugina, a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart – kind, loving, sympathetic and open.’