A Russian military court sentenced an Uzbek man to life imprisonment for his alleged part in Kyiv’s 2024 assassination of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, Russian state media reported on Wednesday.
Kirillov, then head of Russia’s radiation, chemical, and biological protection forces, was killed with Polikarpov by an explosion in Moscow on Dec. 17, 2024. Kyiv Post’s sources within the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that his death was the result of an SBU operation.
“Kirillov was a war criminal and a legitimate target. He was responsible for ordering the use of prohibited chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces,” an SBU source told Kyiv Post at the time.
A dashcam video apparently showing the remote detonation of a bomb attached to an electric scooter began circulating online shortly after Kirillov’s death.
Uzbek national Akhmad Kurbanov’s arrest and full confession was reported by Russian state newspaper Kommersant just one day after the assassination. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on murder and terrorism charges on Wednesday, well over a year later.
Three alleged accomplices have also received prison sentences of up to 25 years.
According to Russian state media outlet TASS, a judge presiding over Moscow’s Second Western District Military Court handed down Kurbanov’s sentence.
“The court rules to find Akhmadjon Kurbonov guilty and sentences him to life imprisonment with the first 10 years to be served in prison, and the rest of the term in a special regime colony, with a fine of one million rubles,” the judge reportedly said.
Kirillov was sanctioned by the UK for his alleged role in the use of chemical warfare against Ukrainian troops in October 2024. In a statement at the time, the UK Foreign Office described Kirillov as “responsible for helping deploy these barbaric weapons.”
As of January 2026, he remains the highest-ranking Russian officer to have been assassinated by Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump’s former peace negotiator Keith Kellogg described his killing as “not a good idea” in an interview with Fox News at the time, on the grounds that that assassinating a Russian officer in his home town was likely to “escalate tensions” and expressing uncertainty about its legality.
Kirillov was charged in absentia by Ukrainian authorities over alleged war crimes following an SBU investigation on Dec. 16, one day prior to the attack.
Although Ukrainian intelligence has not claimed responsibility for the attack, Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the training department within Russia’s General Staff, was killed by a car bomb in Moscow last month.
Ukrainian intelligence operations within Russia’s borders are not uncommon. Also in December 2025, Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) claimed responsibility for the assassination of two Russian policemen in Moscow, who the HUR said had tortured Ukrainian prisoners of war while serving in the Russian army.