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By Open Chronicle Newsdesk with agencies
A Russian general accused by Ukrainian authorities of ordering and coordinating the 2024 missile strike on Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt children’s hospital has reportedly been critically wounded in a shooting in Russia’s Saratov region.
Maj. Gen. Nikolai Varpakhovich was allegedly attacked early Thursday morning outside a private residence in the settlement of Probuzhdenie, according to the Russian Telegram channel Dosye Shpiona.
The channel reported that two pistol shots were fired, striking Varpakhovich in the head and abdomen. He was reportedly taken to hospital in critical condition.
The claim has not been independently verified. Russian law enforcement authorities and major state media had not publicly confirmed the reported attack at the time of the initial reports, and no attacker had been reported detained.
The absence of official confirmation means the circumstances surrounding the alleged shooting remain unclear.
Командира 22-й тяжёлой бомбардировочной авиационной дивизии дальней авиации ВКС РФ генерал-майора Варпаховича Николая Николаевича подстрелили
Сейчас он госпитализирован в тяжёлом состоянии.
Он причастен к военным преступлениям против гражданских лиц в Украине. pic.twitter.com/u5wH5pCeKW
— Кубанская Народная Республика (@kuban_republic) September 3, 2026
Who is Nikolai Varpakhovich?
Varpakhovich commands Russia’s 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division, part of the Long Range Aviation branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
The formation operates some of Russia’s most important strategic bomber aircraft, including the Tu 95MS and Tu 160.
These aircraft are capable of carrying Kh 101 air launched cruise missiles and other conventional and nuclear weapons. Russian strategic bombers have been extensively employed during the war to launch long range missile attacks against targets across Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, announced earlier this week that Varpakhovich had been notified in absentia that he was suspected of war crimes resulting in deaths.
Ukrainian investigators allege that the Russian commander was directly involved in planning one of the most internationally condemned attacks of the war.
Ukraine links Varpakhovich to Okhmatdyt attack
According to the SBU investigation, Varpakhovich issued a combat order and coordinated the missile attack that struck the National Specialized Children’s Hospital Okhmatdyt in Kyiv on July 8, 2024.
Ukrainian authorities allege that forces under his command launched a Kh 101 cruise missile from a Tu 95MS strategic bomber and that the weapon directly struck the hospital.
Two people were killed, including a doctor, and dozens were injured.
More than 600 patients were reportedly inside the hospital when it was struck.
The attack destroyed the hospital’s toxicology building and damaged four other buildings used for medical treatment, including facilities where children underwent surgery and received cancer care.
Images of injured children, damaged wards and medical personnel evacuating patients generated widespread international condemnation at the time.
Russia denied deliberately targeting the hospital.
Another Russian commander identified
Varpakhovich is not the only senior Russian officer Ukrainian investigators have linked to the Okhmatdyt attack.
Ukraine previously identified Maj. Gen. Sergei Kuvaldin, who served as first deputy commander and chief of staff of Russia’s Long Range Aviation, as another officer suspected of involvement in organizing the strike.
The investigations form part of Ukraine’s broader effort to establish chains of command behind Russian missile operations that Kyiv alleges have resulted in civilian casualties.
Ukrainian authorities have increasingly pursued such cases even when suspects remain inside Russia and cannot immediately be brought before Ukrainian courts.
The charges nevertheless establish legal records that Kyiv could seek to use in future prosecutions or international proceedings.
SBU links general to other deadly strikes
Ukrainian investigators have also accused Varpakhovich of involvement in other missile attacks that caused significant civilian casualties.
The SBU alleges that he helped prepare a Kh 101 missile strike against Kryvyi Rih on June 13, 2023.
That attack killed 13 civilians and injured more than 30, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Apartment buildings, schools, businesses and a food warehouse were among the structures damaged.
Varpakhovich has also been charged in absentia by Ukraine in connection with an April 23, 2022 strike against a 16 storey residential building in Odesa.
Eight civilians were killed in that attack, including a three month old girl, while another 18 people were wounded, according to Ukrainian investigators.
Strategic bomber commanders under scrutiny
Ukraine’s focus on Russia’s Long Range Aviation leadership reflects the central role strategic bombers have played throughout the war.
Aircraft operating far from Ukrainian controlled territory can launch cruise missiles from Russian airspace, creating significant challenges for Ukrainian air defences.
The Kh 101 has become one of the principal long range weapons employed in Russian strikes against Ukraine.
Identifying commanders responsible for planning and authorizing those missions has therefore become an important part of Kyiv’s war crimes investigations.
Ukraine argues that officers who knowingly order attacks against civilian targets can bear individual criminal responsibility regardless of whether they personally launched the weapons involved.
Russia has rejected many Ukrainian and Western allegations concerning deliberate attacks against civilians and has challenged Kyiv’s accounts of individual strikes.
Circumstances of reported shooting remain unknown
There is currently no verified information establishing who may have carried out the reported attack against Varpakhovich or what the motive might have been.
No evidence presented in the initial reports establishes Ukrainian involvement.
That distinction is particularly important because several Russian military officials and figures connected with the war have previously been targeted in assassinations or attempted assassinations inside Russia.
Any suggestion regarding responsibility for the reported shooting would therefore remain speculative without additional evidence or an official investigation.
For now, the central claim itself remains unconfirmed: that Varpakhovich was shot twice outside a residence in Saratov Oblast and hospitalized in critical condition.
Confirmation from Russian authorities, medical officials or other independent sources will be necessary to establish what happened.
If verified, however, the shooting would place another senior figure from Russia’s military establishment at the centre of a security investigation inside the country, only days after Ukrainian authorities publicly accused him of responsibility for one of the most notorious missile strikes of the war.