An attempted assassination has been made against a Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) general who is connected to Moscow’s heavy bomber command. The general had been previously accused by Ukraine’s intelligence services of ordering a 2024 attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv.
Maj. Gen. Nikolai Varpakhovich was reportedly shot twice by an unknown assailant who at the time was wearing a helmet and mounted on a motorbike. The shooting took place in a village in the Saratov region of south-western Russia, according to Telegram channels that have sources inside and other connections to the Russian security services.
Tu-95 Bomber Russian Air Force. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Tu-95 Bear Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Moscow has since confirmed a Russian serviceman was admitted to hospital in the port city of Engels, where one of Russia’s major bomber bases is also located, but without providing any additional information. The Russian state-controlled TASS news agency did not refer to the general by name but reported that Russia’s Investigative Committee had opened an inquiry into the incident.
The Committee is Russia’s top official investigative body and has since stated it has opened a criminal probe into attempted murder and arms trafficking following “an attempt on the life of a serviceman” in the city of Engels. “Cartridge casings and bullets from a firearm were recovered at the scene,” the Committee said in a statement.
A Russian Heavy Bomber Base
Maj. Gen. Varpakhovich is listed as the commander of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Russian VKS.
His command is part of the service’s operations at the Engels base. This particular Russian air base is the outpost from which Moscow has operated missions with heavy bombers that then launch long-range missiles towards Ukraine.
Engels air base has also been the target of several Ukrainian drone attacks since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022. During just two attacks in July and August, two Tupolev Tu-95MS were hit and damaged beyond repair.
Ukrainian media had reported in 2024 that Major Oleg Stegachev, one of the crew commanders stationed at the base, had been shot in a prior apparent assassination attempt. His fate remains unclear to this day.
Gen Varpakhovich had been accused of directing a deadly attack on Kyiv on 8 July 2024. This bomber strike caused massive damage to the Okhmatdyt maternity and children’s hospital, killed several and injured dozens more.
Some 18,000 children are treated in the hospital’s 720 beds every year, and about 20,000 receive emergency care at the hospital’s trauma center. The hospital also performs about 7,000 operations annually. It is the largest facility of its kind in the city, and its location is nowhere near any military facility — despite false reports in Russian media to the contrary.
The Most Depraved of Actions
Then-UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the strike “the most depraved of actions” on the part of the Russians. Most of the 600 people who were inside were evacuated when the air raid alarm sounded shortly before the attack. However, several patients who were undergoing surgery at the time were unable to evacuate. The three people included a child and a doctor.
This attack was part of a barrage of Russian strikes that killed 37 people across the country that day. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called on allies to do more to “stop the terror” against Ukrainian cities and civilian targets.
“It is necessary to shoot down Russian missiles. It is necessary to destroy Russian combat aircraft where they are based. It is necessary to take strong steps that will not leave any security deficit,” he said.
In December of that same year, the EU announced sanctions against Varpakhovich and several personnel serving in his division.
The attack on the hospital was cited as the act that prompted the sanctions; this week, Kyiv took a separate action against the general. The Ukraine Security Service (SBU) officially charged him in absentia with “war crimes resulting in loss of life” over his involvement in the hospital attack.
In a statement issued by the SBU and posted on the service’s website on Monday, they cite an investigation in which they found it was Varpakhovich himself who “gave a combat order” for the attack.
“Then, long-range aviation units subordinate to Varpakhovich launched a targeted strike on the medical facility with an air-to-ground Kh-101 cruise missile, launched from a Russian Tu-95MS bomber,” reads the official statement.
As with previous apparent assassinations of high-ranking Russian military figures, Ukraine has not acknowledged responsibility for the shooting, but it is all but assumed that this attempt was ordered by Kyiv’s security services.
Following the 2024 attempt on Major Stegachev’s life, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Service (HUR) warned that “retribution” awaited war criminals, saying it knew their “names, addresses, car numbers, usual routes and habits”.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
