Ukraine presses felony charges against top Russian military officials

The Security Service of Ukraine has announced that it has collected extensive evidence of two high-ranking Russian military officials’ criminal involvement in the air raids and missile strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Felony charges are pressed against Colonel General Sergey Kobylash, commander of the long-range aviation of the Russian Space Forces, and Admiral Igor Osipov, the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

In its Telegram press release, the SSU points out that these are the first formal charges pressed against military officials presumed guilty of attacking civilian objects in Ukraine.

The investigators have established that General Sergey Kobylash was “following the orders of Russia’s top military and political leaders to destroy Ukrainian cities” when ordering missile strikes on apartment blocks, hospitals, and critical facilities around Ukraine.

Admiral Igor Osipov, in turn, has given orders for “systematic missile strikes from the Black Sea on the densely-populated areas of Ukraine” between February 24 and August 10, 2022.

Both military officials are charged with conducting a war of aggression and with infringing on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine. The Ukrainian criminal code provides maximal penalties of up to a life in prison for these felonies against the state.