Killing of top Russian general is a message from Ukraine: You aren’t safe—even at home

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Just after 6 a.m. Tuesday, an explosion shattered the morning quiet on a residential street in Russia’s capital.

A bomb hidden in a scooter detonated, killing a senior military officer. Photos of the aftermath showed him face down in bloodstained snow. It was a message from Ukraine: You aren’t safe—even at home.

The attack on Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov was part of an escalating campaign by Ukraine’s security and intelligence services to kill high-profile figures in Russia’s war effort.

Its aim is to bring the fight to Russia, raising the immediate costs of the war for Moscow’s leaders. Increasingly, the focus has been on important military targets including a senior naval officer and a missile scientist. Coupled with long-range strikes on installations such as strategic bomber bases, it is part of a drive to use asymmetric measures to disrupt and demoralize the Russian war machine.

Ukrainian security officials say the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, is modeling itself on Israel’s Mossad, renowned for its relentless pursuit of enemies abroad. “Such an inglorious end awaits all those who kill Ukrainians," said an SBU official. “Retribution for war crimes is inevitable." On Wednesday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it had detained a 29-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan who was allegedly recruited by Ukraine to plant the bomb.

He was allegedly promised $100,000 and a new life in a European Union country, the agency said. The execution of Kirillov was the most brazen yet in the Ukrainian killing campaign, part of an effort to bring the war to Russia and raise the cost of a conflict that the Kremlin had initially believed it could wrap up in days. Outmatched in manpower and