A senior Russian air force commander accused of ordering deadly strikes on Ukraine, including a children's hospital, has been left in critical condition after being shot in an apparent assassination attempt near his home in Russia. The attack fits a pattern of recent shootings and bombings targeting high-ranking Russian military and intelligence officials, several of which have been linked to Ukrainian intelligence operations.

Maj. Gen. Nikolai Varpakhovich, 56, commander of Russia's 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division, was shot twice in the face and abdomen by a helmeted gunman on a motorcycle outside his house in the village of Probuzhdeniye. He is now being flown to Moscow for further treatment. Ukraine's SBU security service has accused him of ordering the July 2024 missile strike on Kyiv's Okhmatdyt children's hospital, which killed two people, as well as a 2022 strike on an Odesa apartment block that killed eight, including a baby. The EU has also sanctioned him over the hospital attack. The shooting follows other attacks on senior Russian figures, including the wounding of GRU deputy chief Vladimir Alekseyev in February and the killings of three other lieutenant-generals in bombings since December 2024.