Ukraine has charged two senior Russian bomber commanders over a 2022 strike that killed eight in Odesa. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has named Major General Mykola Varpakhovych and Colonel Oleh Skytskyi as in absentia suspects on 3 June.
The indictments target the chain of command behind Russia's campaign of cruise-missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Both officers head units of Russia's 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division — Varpakhovych the division itself, Skytskyi its 121st Regiment — which operates the Tu-95 strategic bombers that launch Kh-101 cruise missiles against Ukrainian residential blocks, energy infrastructure, and civilian sites.
Tu-95 launched three missiles from over Caspian
According to investigators, Russian heavy bombers took off from Engels airbase in Saratov Oblast on 23 April 2022 and launched three Kh-101 cruise missiles at Odesa from over the Caspian Sea.
One missile struck the 16-story Tiras residential complex, and another hit the city cemetery.
"Under the instructions of the suspects, their subordinates attacked a building of one of Odesa's residential complexes with a Kh-101 cruise missile. To carry out the strike on a civilian object, the Russians raised a Tu-95 strategic bomber into the air," the SBU said.
Three generations of one family
Among the eight killed were journalist Valeria Hlodan, her three-month-old daughter Kira, and Valeria's mother — three generations of one family.
Hlodan's husband, Yury, returned from a shop run to find his apartment block burning, BBC reported at the time.
Eighteen others were wounded in the strike, the SBU said.
Both Varpakhovych and Skytskyi face up to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment under Part 2, Article 438 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, which covers violation of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder.
Expanding war-crimes docket
In absentia indictments give Ukrainian courts a basis to act if a suspect is later captured, exchanged, or apprehended abroad, and feed the broader international evidence pool, including the ICC's own warrants.
