A Russian general accused by Ukraine of ordering a missile attack on a children’s hospital in Kiev was reportedly gunned down in northwestern Russia on Thursday.
Russia’s Investigative Committee announced on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into the attempted murder of a military personnel who was shot several times in the city of Engels, Saratov region.
The commission did not reveal the man’s name, but Russian Telegram channels widely reported that the man was Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, commander of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Air Division of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Long-Range Aviation.
Engels serves as home to Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, including Tu-95MS and Tu-160 aircraft, which Russia uses to launch long-range cruise missiles against Ukraine.
Valpakhovich is accused by Ukraine of ordering a missile attack on Kyiv’s Ohmadyt Hospital in July 2024.
The attack left three people dead, including one child who died several days later from injuries sustained in the attack. Dozens of people were also injured. Several departments of the hospital were damaged or destroyed, including the intensive care unit, oncology and surgical departments, toxicology and trauma center.
The hospital later announced that hundreds of patients and staff had been evacuated after an air raid warning was issued, indicating that an airstrike was coming. But some people, including three patients undergoing heart surgery, were still there when the missile struck about an hour later.
Varpahovic is also facing sanctions from several countries and the European Union over his role in the 2024 Games.
Ukraine has not commented on the incident, but Varpakhovich has recently attracted the attention of Kiev.
Three days ago, Ukraine’s Security Service and the country’s prosecutor general formally indicted him for war crimes, accusing him of ordering long-range aviation units under his command to fire Kh-101 air-to-surface cruise missiles at hospitals.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said the serviceman survived the attack and was taken to a hospital. Local media reported that he was shot in the face and torso and was taken to Moscow for treatment.
Valpakhovich is the latest in a string of high-profile military officials to be the target of apparent assassinations in Russia in recent years. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for these killings, but Kiev has never officially acknowledged involvement in any of them.
General Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian military’s nuclear and chemical weapons protection unit, was killed in December 2024 when an explosive device planted on his scooter detonated near him.
Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the operations department of the General Staff, and Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvalov, who headed the military operations and training department, were killed in a car explosion in Moscow last year.
Others killed include Armen Sarkissyan, the founder of a pro-Russian militia who died after a bombing in central Moscow in February 2025. He has been described by Ukraine as a “criminal mastermind.”
