Nikolai Varpakhovich Shot In Engels After Ukraine Accuses Him Of Okhmatdyt Strike

Assassination Attempt in Engels

A Russian general accused by Ukraine of ordering a missile strike against Kyiv’s children’s hospital was shot in the city of Engels in Russia’s Saratov region on Thursday, prompting the Russian Investigative Committee to open an investigation into an attempted murder. The CNN report said the man was widely reported by Russian telegram channels to be Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, commander of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ Long-Range Aviation, with Engels described as the home base of Russia’s strategic bombers fleet including the Tu-95MS and Tu-160. Ukraine has accused Varpakhovich of ordering a missile strike against Kyiv’s Okhmatdyt hospital in July 2024, an attack CNN said killed three people and injured dozens others.

CNN added that the hospital said afterwards that hundreds of patients and staff were evacuated when the air raid alarm was raised, but some patients, including three undergoing a heart surgery, were still there when the missile hit about an hour later. The Euromaidan Press account also tied the shooting to Varpakhovich, describing that “The officer was hit twice as he stepped outside in a settlement near Engels” and that surgeons in Saratov worked through the morning to keep him alive.

Reporting for this sectionCNNEuromaidan Press

Kyiv’s Accusations and Russian Case

Ukrainian authorities have formally charged Varpakhovich with war crimes, with CNN saying the Security Service of Ukraine and the country’s Prosecutor General charged him three days ago and that he ordered long-range aviation units to launch a Kh-101 air-to-ground cruise missile against the hospital. CNN also reported that the Russian investigative committee said the serviceman survived the attack and was transported to a hospital, while local media said he was flown to Moscow for treatment after being shot in the face and the torso. Ukrainian and Russian accounts diverged on details of the shooting, with Meduza saying the attacker rode up on a motorcycle to a private house in the village of Probuzhdenie, near the city of Engels, and fired two shots at Varpakhovich with a pistol.

Meduza further said “One bullet struck Varpakhovich in the abdomen, the other in the head,” and that doctors removed both at the hospital. Ukrainian-linked reporting also described the timing and method, with Ukrainian Pravda quoting Mash that “The assassination attempt took place in the village of Probuzhdeniye in the morning,” and that the shooter opened fire after riding up on a motorcycle wearing a helmet.

Reporting for this sectionCNN

What’s at Stake Next

The attack on the accused commander comes after Ukraine’s July 8, 2024 strike on the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Specialised Hospital, which Ukrainian Pravda said was carried out with a Kh-101 air-to-surface cruise missile launched from a Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber.

Ukrainian Pravda also said the investigation established that it was Varpakhovich who gave the combat order for the missile strike on 8 July 2024, and it described the assassination attempt as being made on the morning of 3 September in the village of Probuzhdeniye in Russia’s Saratov Oblast.

Meduza reported that at the time of the strike the hospital had more than 600 patients and roughly the same number of staff members, and that two people were killed.

CNN framed the broader pattern by saying Varpakhovich was the latest of high-profile military officials targeted in apparent assassinations in Russia over the past few years, and it listed Igor Kirillov’s death in December 2024 and the deaths of Lt. Gen. Yaroslav Moskalik and Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov in Moscow last year.

In the same context of accountability and escalation, CNN said Moscow has pointed finger at Ukraine over these killings, while Kyiv “has never officially acknowledged playing a role in any of them,” and Ukrainian Pravda said the attacker “has not yet been detained.”

Reporting for this sectionCNN