President Zelensky Praises Ukrainian Intelligence For Successfully Killing Russian Military Leaders

President Zelensly visited Ukrainian troops on the front lines. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday praised Ukraine's foreign intelligence service for the killings of a number of Russian military figures since the start of the war, but did not mention the car bomb that killed a senior Russian officer last week.

President Zelensky's remarks on the Telegram messaging app did not refer to any specific events about the killing of Russian military officers.

"The head of Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence reported the dismissal of a number of people from the top command of the Russian armed forces. Justice must be upheld," President Zelenskiy said referring to the head of the agency, Oleg Ivashchenko.

"The head reported various further steps against Russian agent networks in Ukraine and sabotagers. Good results. Thank you for your hard work," said the president.

Russia blamed Ukraine for a car bomb last Friday outside Moscow that killed the Deputy Head of the Main Operations Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Yaroslav Moskalik (59).

Authorities in Kyiv made no immediate comment on the attack on Moskalik, the latest of a series of Russian military officers and pro-war figures killed since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Separately, a Moscow court on weekends ordered a Ukrainian citizen who faces terrorism charges in connection with an attack on Moskalik to be detained.

A Moskalik obituary published Tuesday in the official newspaper of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Krasnaya Zvezda and signed by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, his deputies, and top military commanders, described Moskalik as Russia's "loyal son".

It said, since the start of the war, which in the news of death was referred to as a "special military operation" in accordance with the Kremlin's stance, Moskalik oversees the work of the General Staff combat control group. It was not stated in detail what was involved in that position.

According to the news of the death, from 2015 to 2021 Moskalik was involved in the international delegation of the Russian Ministry of Defense dealing with issues related to southeastern Ukraine.

He is "responsible to prepare material for the Russian president on the situation in southeastern Ukraine", the news of the death said.

Earlier, Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency said it had killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, a top Russian general accused by Ukraine of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces last December in Moscow.