Ukrainian authorities on Tuesday accused a Russian air force commander wanted by the International Criminal Court of being behind a missile attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv this summer.
“Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash held the post of long-range aviation commander for the Russian aerospace forces at the time, and after delivering this strike, was promoted and appointed commander of the Russian aerospace forces,” Ukraine’s SBU security service said in a statement.
The SBU, alongside Ukraine’s prosecutor general, claimed Kobylash ordered a missile strike on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital on July 8, which killed at least two people and injured 35 others, including nine children.
Ukraine charged Kobylash with violating the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder committed by a group of persons.
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Kobylash and navy admiral Viktor Sokolov, accusing them of directing attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine between October 2022 and March 2023.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction, rejected the arrest warrants, including those issued for President Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner in March 2023.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced the charges alongside ICC prosecutor Karim Khan outside the Okhmatdyt hospital on Tuesday.
“The said representative of the aggressor country's command [Kobylash] was notified,” Kostin was quoted telling journalists by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
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