Russia’s Sergei Kobylash is called as a suspect within the July 8 assault on Okhmatdyt Kids’s Hospital in Kyiv.
A Russian air pressure commander is suspected of ordering a lethal missile strike on a Ukrainian youngsters’s hospital in July, in accordance with Ukraine’s prosecutor basic.
The Russian commander directed forces to fireside an air-launched cruise missile on the morning of the July 8 strike, Ukrainian Prosecutor Normal Andriy Kostin mentioned at a information convention on Tuesday.
In a publish on Telegram, the Safety Service of Ukraine (SBU) named the commander as Lieutenant Normal Sergei Kobylash.
The assault on the Okhmatdyt Kids’s Hospital in Kyiv killed two folks and injured 16 whereas wrecking a lot of the power, together with collapsing the roof of its toxicology division, the place youngsters obtain dialysis.
After the assault, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko accused Russia of making an attempt to wipe out Ukraine’s inhabitants.
“Proper now, the entire world can see how Russian missiles and kamikaze drones killed Ukrainian residents in our peaceable metropolis,” he mentioned on the time.
‘Investigation persevering with’
Whereas Kostin didn’t immediately establish the Russian commander suspected within the strike, the SBU named Kobylash, chief of Russia’s long-range aviation forces on the time of the assault.
Kobylash is already wanted by the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) for alleged warfare crimes, together with ordering strikes on Ukraine’s vitality techniques.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who additionally attended Tuesday’s information convention, didn’t single out Kobylash however joined Kostin in saying a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile was the probably projectile used within the hospital assault.
“It does appear from a lot of sources and the work that’s been finished {that a} missile, a Kh-101 cruise missile, has been recognized,” Khan mentioned. “Quite a few components need to be seemed into additional.”
Kostin added: “We’re persevering with the investigation to search out different folks accountable for the strike on Okhmatdyt.”
Russia denies committing warfare crimes in Ukraine and says it doesn’t goal civilians. It has dismissed ICC warfare crime arrest warrants as a part of a biased Western marketing campaign to discredit Russia.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for six Russian officers, together with President Vladimir Putin.