SBU names Russian commanders who gave order to strike café in Hroza where 59 people were killed
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU), working with the Main Directorate of Intelligence (DIU), has identified five Russian commanders it says ordered a missile strike on the village of Hroza in Kharkiv Oblast in October 2023. The five have been charged in absentia, the SBU reported.
According to the investigation, Russian forces struck a café with an Iskander-M ballistic missile where a wake was being held for a fallen Ukrainian soldier. The missile, carrying a 480-kilogram (1,058-pound) fragmentation warhead, was launched from Russia's Voronezh Oblast.
The attack killed 59 civilians, including one child, and injured five others. The café building was destroyed, and the strike also damaged the village council building, nine private homes and 12 vehicles.
Investigators determined that the decision to strike the civilian target was made by Col. Gen. Aleksei Kim, chief of staff and first deputy commander of Russia's joint military grouping in Ukraine.
Acting on his orders, preparations for the strike were carried out by:
- Vice Admiral Sergei Pinchuk, deputy commander of the grouping;
- Rear Admiral Aleksei Petrushyn, head of the intelligence command center at the grouping's headquarters;
- Col. Dmitry Kozlovsky, first deputy chief of rocket and artillery forces.
The order to launch the missile was given by Col. Ivan Petrov, commander of the 119th Missile Brigade of Russia's armed forces. Petrov's subordinates carried out the launch.
All five Russian soldiers have been charged in absentia under Part 2 of Article 438 of Ukraine's Criminal Code, which covers violations of the laws and customs of war combined with premeditated murder.
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