Good Morning Britain star Kate Garraway announced the show had received some shocking breaking news.
The presenter, 57, co-hosted Tuesday's edition (December 17) of the ITV programme alongside Richard Madeley. The duo were joined by Sean Fletcher, who was in the studio to deliver other news.
He revealed that Igor Kirillov, head of Russia's nuclear bomb disposals, has been killed in an explosion.
Sean announced: "Breaking news in the past hour. The head of Russia's nuclear defence forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow."
Kirillov, 54, was leaving an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospeky when a device hidden in a scooter went off. His assistant was also killed.
The bombing, which triggered an explosion of an estimated 200g of TNT, is believed to have been carried out by a Ukrainian hit squad, with the device detonated remotely.
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Police have now opened an investigation.
"Igor Kirillov, the head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, and his assistant were killed," Russia's investigative committee said.
"Investigators, forensic experts and operational services are working at the scene. Investigative actions and operational search activities are being carried out aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the crime."
Photographs posted on Russian Telegram channels showed a destroyed entrance to a building littered with rubble, with two bodies lying in the blood-stained snow.
Kirillov's death comes one day after Ukrainian prosecutors charged the general with using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, said that they had recorded more than 4,800 uses of chemical weapons on the battlefield since February 2022.
Kirillov was appointed to head the NBC force in April 2017. According to Russian state-run media outlet Tass, he attended the Kostroma Higher Military Command School of Chemical Defence.
He had also been sanctioned by Britain for the “abhorrent use of inhumane chemical weapons” on the battlefield in Ukraine.
In a statement announcing the sanctions in October, the UK foreign office said Kirillov was “responsible for helping deploy these barbaric weapons."
The general was also accused of being "a significant mouthpiece for Kremlin disinformation" and "spreading lies to mask Russia’s shameful and dangerous behavior".
