The SBU has collected evidence and served a notice of suspicion in absentia to Lieutenant General Konstantin Stepanishchev, deputy commander of the 6th Combined Arms Army of the Western Military District of the Russian Federation, who developed and tried to implement an operation to capture Kharkiv by the end of February 2022.
This was reported by the SBU press service.
The agency said that according to Stepanishchev's plan, the ground forces subordinate to him were to surround the city and encircle it in five days.
To do this, assault groups of Russian troops were to be covered by Russian fighters, and Iskander ballistic missiles were to attack the civilian infrastructure of the regional centre.
In addition, during the fighting, a special task force of Russian military intelligence (known as the GRU) attempted to infiltrate Kharkiv to seize the local administration building and raise the Russian flag there.
If the city was captured, Stepanishchev planned to order his subordinate units to take control of all administrative and strategic facilities in the city and to launch a full range of isolation and filtration measures against Kharkiv residents.
However, the Russian general's blitzkrieg failed due to the actions of the Ukrainian Defence Forces,’ the SBU added.
According to available information, Stepanishchev has been involved in hostilities against Ukrainian troops in Luhansk Region since 2014. At that time, he commanded the 4th Separate Motorised Rifle Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces.
He was subsequently promoted to general, given a new position, a ‘Hero of Russia’ star, and an order to prepare for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
SBU investigators served Stepanishchev a notice of suspicion in absentia under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (waging an aggressive war committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons).
Comprehensive measures are underway to find and punish the war criminal of the aggressor country.