The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced suspicion notices against two Russian generals who commanded the 19 August 2023 airstrike on Chernihiv, according to the SBU press service.
The Russian forces struck central Chernihiv with a ballistic missile, likely an Iskander-M, on 19 August 2023, hitting near the drama theater on the city’s main square, killing seven people.
Investigators determined that Lieutenant General Mikhail Zusko, First Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces’ “West” group, ordered the strike on the civilian target.
Zusko reportedly received the directive from his superior, Russian Colonel General Evgeny Nikiforov, who was also served with an in-absentia suspicion notice.
The SBU press service rreported that Zusko subsequently instructed Major General Alexander Dragovalovsky, head of the Russian group’s missile forces department, to carry out the attack.
“The Russian occupying forces used a cruise missile from the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system launched from Russia’s Kursk Oblast,” according to the statement.
The attack damaged apartment buildings, administrative buildings, and private vehicles in addition to causing civilian casualties.
The Russian forces struck central Chernihiv with a ballistic missile at approximately 11:30 on 19 August 2023. The missile hit near the drama theater on the city’s main square, killing seven people, including a six-year-old child.
At the time, a drone exhibition called “Fierce Birds” was taking place in the theater. The event’s initiator, veteran Maria Berlinska, said that while the event was announced publicly, “the specific location was only communicated to registered and verified participants hours before the event.”
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