General who led strike on Kyiv children's hospital shot, Russian media reports
The military officer who commanded the Russian missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv in July 2024 was shot on the morning of 3 September in the village of Probuzhdeniye, Engels district, in Russia's Saratov Oblast, in an attempted assassination. He is reportedly in a critical condition.
Source: Russian media outlet Astra; Telegram channel Mash; Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency TASS, citing Russia's Investigative Committee; Security Service of Ukraine (SSU); Telegram channel Dosye Shpiona (Spy Dossier)
Quote from Mash: "The assassination attempt took place in the morning in the village of Probuzhdeniye. The shooter, wearing a helmet, rode up to a house on a motorcycle and opened fire: one bullet struck the victim in the torso and another in the face. The military officer's driver was also wounded but managed to escape and hide before returning and calling an ambulance. The bullets were removed from the victim in the hospital. He is currently being prepared for transfer to Moscow on a special flight."
Details: Dosye Shpiona reported that Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, commander of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Russian Aerospace Forces, was shot at around 07:00 and is in a critical condition.
Astra said the village of Probuzhdeniye in Saratov Oblast is listed as one of Varpakhovich's addresses.
The attacker is still at large. The regional Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case in connection with an attempt on the life of a serviceman.
Meanwhile, on 31 August, the Security Service of Ukraine announced that two Russian military officials had been served with notices of suspicion in absentia for their involvement in missile strikes on Reuters journalists in Donetsk Oblast and the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv. One of them was Varpakhovich.
The investigation established that it was Varpakhovich who gave the combat order to carry out the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt National Children's Specialised Hospital on 8 July 2024. Long-range aviation units under his command carried out a targeted strike on the hospital with a Kh-101 air-to-surface cruise missile launched from a Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber.
Background:
- At the time of the attack on Okhmatdyt, more than 600 patients were in the hospital. Two people were killed, including a doctor, and dozens were injured.
- The missile completely destroyed the toxicology building and damaged four other buildings where surgical procedures were performed and seriously ill children were treated.
- On 27 August, a car belonging to a Russian serviceman listed in the Myrotvorets Myrotvorets, which means "peacemaker", is a Ukrainian website that publishes a running list (and sometimes personal details) of people whom the authors consider to be enemies of Ukraine database exploded in St Petersburg. His unit has been accused of attacks on Ukrainian civilians.
Your support on Patreon helps us keep the news free and accessible.