An Uzbek man is charged in Moscow with killing a Russian general in a bombing claimed by Ukraine

An Uzbek citizen accused of acting on behalf of Ukraine has been charged by Russian authorities with this week's assassination of a senior Russian general and his assistant in a bombing claimed by Ukraine's security services, state media said Thursday.

Akhmadzhon Kurbonov was ordered detained by a Moscow court until at least Feb. 17 in Tuesday's bombing that killed Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the chief of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces, the Tass state news agency reported.

Kurbonov was charged with the killings, carrying out a terrorist act and illegally manufacturing explosives, the Russian news agency said.

Kirillov was killed by a bomb hidden on an electric scooter outside his apartment building in Moscow, a day after Ukraine’s security service leveled criminal charges against him. His assistant, Ilya Polikarpov, also was killed.

Kurbonov — previously referred to by news agencies as Akhmad Kurbanov — was detained by Russian security services on Wednesday.

Shortly after he was detained, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, which did not identify him, said he was born in 1995 and was recruited by Ukraine’s security service. The Associated Press could not confirm the conditions under which the suspect spoke to the FSB.

The suspect said he had been promised $100,000 and resettlement in a European Union country in exchange for killing Kirillov, according to the FSB.

The agency said that acting on instructions from Ukraine, the suspect picked up a homemade bomb in Moscow, placed it on an e-scooter and parked it at the entrance to Kirillov’s apartment building.

He rented a car to monitor the location and set up a camera that livestreamed the scene to his handlers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the FSB said, detonating the bomb when Kirillov left the building.

Kirillov, 54, was the head of Russia’s Radiation, Biological and Chemical Protection Forces. The special troops are tasked with protecting the military from use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment.

Kirillov was under sanctions from several countries, including the United Kingdom and Canada, for his actions in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On Monday, Ukraine’s Security Service, or SBU, opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing him of directing the use of banned chemical weapons.

Russia denies using any chemical weapons in Ukraine and has accused Kyiv of using toxic agents in combat.

An SBU official told the AP on Tuesday that the agency was behind the attack. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information, described Kirillov as a “war criminal and an entirely legitimate target.”

CORRECTS NAME TO AKHMADZHON KURBONOV - The man, whom Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies identified as Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, suspected of involvement in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, sits in a cage in a courtroom at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

CORRECTS NAME TO AKHMADZHON KURBONOV - The man, whom Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies identified as Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, suspected of involvement in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, sits in a cage in a courtroom at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

CORRECTS NAME TO AKHMADZHON KURBONOV - The man, whom Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies identified as Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, suspected of involvement in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, is escorted to a courtroom at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

CORRECTS NAME TO AKHMADZHON KURBONOV - The man, whom Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies identified as Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, suspected of involvement in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, sits in a cage in a courtroom at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

CORRECTS NAME TO AKHMADZHON KURBONOV - The man, whom Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies identified as Akhmadzhon Kurbonov, suspected of involvement in the killing of Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia's Radiation, Biological and Chemical Defense Forces, and his assistant Ilya Polikarpov, is escorted to a courtroom at the Basmanny District Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)