Dmitry Medvedev, former president of Russia and deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, stated today that the Ukrainian leadership will face retaliation for the assassination of Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the RIA news agency reported.

“Realizing the inevitability of its military defeat, (Ukraine) is carrying out cowardly and unacceptable strikes on peaceful cities,” Medvedev said.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, who was head of Russia’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Protection Forces, was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Avenue along with his aide, Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, stated earlier today.

A source from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) claimed responsibility for the killing of the Russian lieutenant general.