The Security Service of Ukraine and the Office of the Prosecutor General have identified the Russian general who commanded the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital on July 8.
According to the SSU press service, the general identified is Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash, who at the time held the position of Commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
It was reported that after the strike, Kobylash was promoted to Commander of the Russian Air Force.
"During the investigation, the SSU, together with the Prosecutor General's Office, did an immense amount of work. We interviewed 112 victims and 50 witnesses, conducted explosive, forensic, and other expert analyses, and reviewed video footage from surveillance cameras," said SSU Deputy Head Sergey Naumuk.
The investigation revealed that on July 8, 2024, at 9:15 AM, under Kobylash's orders, a Russian Tu-95MS strategic bomber launched an X-101 missile at the children’s hospital in Kyiv.
According to the SSU Deputy Head, the strike was carried out by the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division of the Russian Aerospace Forces.
It was established that the Russian aircraft took off from an airfield near the Russian city of Olenegorsk, and the missile was launched over the Saratov region, nearly 600 km from the Ukrainian border. The X-101 entered Ukrainian airspace in the Chernihiv region and maneuvered, continuously changing its flight trajectory, over the territories of four regions.
This indicates that the missile was programmed for maximum bypass of Ukrainian air defenses and aimed directly at the medical facility.
Approximately at 10:45 AM, the Russian X-101 struck the intensive care and detoxification department of the Okhmatdyt hospital.
As a result of the strike, 2 people were killed, including a pediatric nephrologist, and 35 others were injured, including 9 children.
The strike also damaged administrative buildings, treatment, laboratory, and diagnostic facilities, a transformer substation, utility rooms, and the heating station of the medical facility.
At the scene, law enforcement officers found remnants of the missile with markings indicating it was manufactured by the Russian Raduga Design Bureau in the second quarter of 2024. Based on the collected evidence, SSU investigators issued a notice of suspicion to Kobylash under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violations of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder, committed by a group of individuals).
“Kobylash is currently suspected of committing other war crimes in Ukraine. Specifically, under his command, there were attacks on civilian energy infrastructure in 2022-2023. In March 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Kobylash for these war crimes,” Naumuk emphasized.
Since the suspect is located in Russia, comprehensive measures are ongoing to hold him accountable for crimes against UKraine.
