Ukraine Serves Suspicion Notices on Three More Russian Commanders Over Okhmatdyt Hospital Strike

Ukrainian law enforcement has served notices of suspicion in absentia on three Russian military commanders accused of involvement in organising the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor General reported. Two people were killed in the attack.

The suspects are Colonel Oleg Skitsky, commander of Russia's 121st Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Colonel Ilya Koryakin, deputy commander and chief of staff of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division; and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Senchenko, chief of staff and deputy commander of the 121st Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment.

According to the investigation, the three officers took part in planning the attack and ordered their subordinates to strike Okhmatdyt with a Kh-101 cruise missile. The missile was launched from a Tu-95MS bomber on 8 July 2024.

All three are charged under Article 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which covers war crimes combined with premeditated murder.

Three other Russian servicemen, Generals Sergei Kobylash, Sergei Kuvaldin and Nikolai Varpakhovich, had previously received notices of suspicion in absentia in connection with the same strike.

"Thus, notices of suspicion in the case of the strike on Okhmatdyt have already been served on six representatives of the Russian military command, ranging from the leadership of Long-Range Aviation to the command of an aviation regiment," the Office of the Prosecutor General said.

The 8 July 2024 strike hit the medical building of Okhmatdyt, where young patients were being treated. More than 600 sick children were in the hospital at the time and had been moved to the basement after an air raid warning was issued. The attack killed a young female doctor and the grandfather of one of the patients, and at least 34 other people were injured.

The facility's toxicology department, which provided care for seriously ill children on dialysis, was also damaged in the strike.

In September 2026, an assassination attempt was carried out in Russia's Saratov Oblast against Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, who directed the attack on Okhmatdyt. He was shot, but doctors managed to remove the bullets at the hospital.