(Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service on Monday for the “liquidation” of top Russian military figures over the more than three years since the full-scale invasion by Russia.
Zelenskiy’s remarks, on the Telegram messaging app, made no reference to any specific instance, but appeared to be an oblique reference to the killing outside Moscow last week of a senior Russian military officer, Yaroslav Moskalik.
“The head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence reported on the liquidation of persons from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice inevitably is done,” Zelenskiy said, referring to the agency’s head, Oleg Ivashchenko.
“The head reported on further measures to counter Russian agent networks in Ukraine and saboteurs. Good results. Thank you for your work,” the president said.
The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine for last Friday’s car bomb that killed Moskalik, 59, the latest in a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures assassinated since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Authorities in Kyiv have made no direct comment on the attack.
Russian war bloggers described Moskalik as a rising star who had taken part in high-level Russian delegations that have met Western officials in connection with efforts to negotiate a settlement in Ukraine.
A Moscow court at the weekend ordered remanded in custody a Ukrainian national facing terrorism charges in connection with the attack.
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service said it killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, last December in Moscow.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski and Oleksandr Kozhukhar; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
