A top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops was assassinated in Moscow by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service on Tuesday morning in the most high-profile killing of its kind.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside an apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off, Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was behind the assassination of Russian General Igor Kirillov, multiple media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources in the agency.

Kirillov, the commander of the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces, was killed by an explosion, along with his aide, in southeastern Moscow early on Tuesday. The murder took place hours after the general was accused by Kiev of being linked to the use of chemical agents on the battlefield, a claim Moscow denies outright.

A senior Russian general has died after an explosive device hidden in an electric scooter detonated outside an apartment building in Moscow, in an attack claimed by Ukraine that marks one of the boldest targeted assassinations of a senior military official since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country.

Lt Gen Igor Kirillov, the head of the military’s chemical, biological and radiological weapons unit, was killed along with his deputy when the blast went off as the two men left a building in a residential area in south-east Moscow early on Tuesday.

A Pakistani man with ties to the Iranian government sought to carry out a political assassination in the United States, a case that was investigated weeks before a gunman tried to kill former President Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally. 

Asif Merchant, 46, traveled to New York City and worked with a hit man to carry out the assassinations in late August or early September, federal prosecutors said in a court complaint. The complaint says the plot was intended to target high-ranking U.S. officials, potentially including Trump.

The Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man who has alleged ties to the Iranian government with seeking to carry out political assassinations, a case that prompted the US government to increase security for former President Donald Trump and other officials, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.

FBI investigators believe that Trump and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, a US official briefed on the matter said.

FBI director Christopher Wray revealed several new details about the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump during a Wednesday hearing, including the fact that the would-be assassin researched the Oswald-Kennedy assassination ahead of his attempt on Trump’s life.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned a little more than a week after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his rally, NewsNation has confirmed.

Cheatle faced calls to step down from lawmakers in both political parties who questioned the agency’s actions in the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. On Monday, she testified publicly in front of the House Oversight Committee after a week of closed-door interviews.

Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle assured lawmakers that she takes full responsibility for the failed assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at the first congressional hearing on the subject — but mostly refused to provide any details on what exactly went wrong, passing the buck instead to the FBI to provide specific information.