Ukrainian investigators have notified six high-ranking Russian army officers of suspicion in the massive shelling of Okhtyrka in the Sumy region, which occurred in the first days of the full-scale invasion. Their actions are qualified as a war crime that led to the death of civilians, including a child. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, writes UNN.
Details
In February 2022, Okhtyrka became a key frontier on the path of Russian troops trying to break through towards Poltava and Kyiv. The city suffered powerful attacks daily. The most devastating blow was inflicted on February 25, when the occupiers shelled the city with cluster munitions from positions near the village of Pechyny.
On February 25, 2022, Russian military personnel, while in positions near the village of Pechyny, Trostianets community, carried out indiscriminate massive shelling of civilian objects in Okhtyrka with "Uragan" and "Grad" MLRS using cluster munitions
Nine civilians died then, including a minor child, and nine more were injured. More than ten residential high-rise buildings, two kindergartens, and other civilian objects were damaged.
According to the investigation materials, the order to shell Okhtyrka was given by Lieutenant General Serhiy Kysil, commander of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District of the Russian Federation. His instructions were carried out by subordinate officers of the 4th Kantemirovskaya Tank Division named after Andropov:
- Major General Yevheniy Zhuravlyov, division commander;
- Colonel Dmytro Kirshin, chief of staff;
- Colonel Volodymyr Krivoshchapov, head of artillery;
- Colonel Oleksandr Aleksandrov, commander of the 275th self-propelled artillery regiment;
- Lieutenant Colonel Magomedrasul Kurbanov, chief of staff and deputy commander of the same regiment.
On September 24, 2025, under the procedural guidance of the Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office, they were notified of suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war, combined with intentional murder of civilians (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).