Italy called the attack against Kirillov a reflection of the real face of Kiev

The death of Lieutenant-General Igor Kirillov, head of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces of the Russian Armed Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov in a terrorist attack shows the real face of the Kiev regime. This opinion was expressed by Amedeo Avondet, leader of the United Italy political movement, in a conversation with Izvestia on December 18.

"All Italians realize that what is happening is a monstrous terrorist attack. The Ukrainians are showing their real face again <...> We see what they have done in Moscow. They have done something terrible, something that we, as the United Italy political party, strongly condemn," he said.

Avondet said Kiev is using terrorist attacks because it cannot succeed on the front lines and is desperate. At the same time, the Russian army is advancing in the Kursk and Donetsk directions amid serious problems in the Ukrainian troops, the politician said.

He expressed confidence that Russia will defeat terrorism in Ukraine, will win on the front line and will be able to defeat NATO from a strategic point of view.

For its part, United Italy has launched a large-scale campaign in which it is placing billboards in Turin and Milan with the slogans "Russia will defeat terrorism" and "Let's protect our children together with Russia." The aim is to draw attention to Italy's foreign policy and social initiatives in the current context.

"We as a party have achieved a simply magnificent result. Millions of people are talking about it on social media, in comments, and almost all the media in Italy are discussing it. And the people are with us. The people of Italy understood everything, especially after learning that Ukraine and NATO are poor terrorist organizations," Avondet concluded.

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Earlier in the day, the FSB reported the detention of a 29-year-old Uzbek citizen in the case of the murder of Kirillov and his assistant. During interrogation, the attacker said that he was recruited by the Ukrainian security services. He could face punishment up to life imprisonment.

Kirillov and his assistant were killed on the morning of December 17 as a result of detonation of an explosive device, which was placed in a scooter near the entrance of a residential building on Ryazansky Avenue in Moscow. A criminal case of murder, terrorist act and illegal arms trafficking has been opened.

Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences over the incident. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that Kirillov had spent many years systematically exposing the crimes of the West and worked fearlessly. In turn, the ambassador-at-large for Ukraine's crimes, Rodion Miroshnik, said that the general cited evidence that was threatening and painful for Russia's adversaries.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US had nothing to do with the terrorist attack. Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder made the same assertion.