Four Russian commanders have been notified of suspicion over a missile strike on central Kryvyi Rih in 2024.
“Under the procedural supervision of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office, four representatives of the senior military command of the Russian Armed Forces have been identified and, in absentia, notified of suspicion. They planned and issued orders for a missile strike on civilian infrastructure in Kryvyy Rih,” – the regional prosecutor’s office said.
According to the investigation, on the morning of 28 August 2024 Russian forces struck civilian sites in the central part of the city with an Iskander-M ballistic missile. As a result of the attack, 10 people aged between 18 and 60 were injured. The missile strike completely destroyed a car service station.
Buildings belonging to a hotel, the Social Insurance Fund, the district prosecutor’s office, an educational institution and a dormitory, a petrol station, as well as multi-storey residential buildings were damaged.
It has been established that representatives of Russia’s senior military command were involved in organising and carrying out the missile strike and, at the time of the crime, held the following positions:
- Colonel General Aleksei Kim – Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, who exercised overall leadership and coordinated the work of the Fire Damage Centre;
- Vice Admiral Aleksandr Peshkov – Deputy Commander of the Russian troop grouping for fire damage, who oversaw planning and the consolidation of proposals regarding fire damage against a civilian target;
- Rear Admiral Aleksei Petrushin – Head of the Intelligence Control Centre, who provided intelligence data during the planning of the fire strike;
- Colonel Dmytro Kozlovskiy – Head of Missile Forces and Artillery of the Russian troop grouping, who at the planning stage proposed the means of attack and subsequently passed the order to carry out the missile strike to a military unit.
The suspects’ actions were classified under Part 1 of Article 438 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code — violation of the laws and customs of war.