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A Russian major general who Ukraine says gave the order to strike a children’s hospital in Kyiv is in critical condition following an apparent assassination attempt outside a house in southwestern Russia on Thursday.

Getting into it: According to Russian media, which first reported the attack, Maj. Gen. Nikolai Varpakhovich was shot twice, once in the torso and once in the face, by a gunman in a helmet who rode up to a private house on a motorcycle around 7 a.m. His driver was also wounded, but escaped, hid, then returned and called an ambulance.

Russian authorities have been careful with names. The Investigative Committee said it opened a criminal case into attempted murder and arms trafficking following an attempt on the life of a serviceman in Engels, and said casings and bullets were recovered at the scene. State agency Tass reported the inquiry without naming anyone. The Defense Ministry has not commented. The Moscow Times said it could not independently verify that the victim was Varpakhovich.

The shooting came days after Ukraine’s SBU charged Varpakhovich in absentia with war crimes resulting in loss of life. The agency says he issued the combat order for the July 8, 2024, strike on the Okhmatdyt National Children’s Specialized Hospital, carried out by the long-range aviation units he oversaw using a Kh-101 cruise missile fired from a Tu-95MS bomber. The hospital was holding upward of 600 patients when the missile hit. It leveled the toxicology wing and tore into four more buildings, including ones with operating rooms running and pediatric cancer patients inside. Reports of the death toll vary from two to three killed, including a doctor and a child, with dozens injured.

That was not the only case against him. Ukraine has also named him alongside four other generals in an in absentia case over the June 2023 strike that killed eight people in Kryvyi Rih, where Zelensky grew up. Ukrainian outlet Kanal 24 has also tied him to an April 2023 attack on Uman that killed 24 and an Odesa apartment block strike with eight dead, the youngest three months old. The EU sanctioned him and other members of his division in December 2024 over the hospital attack.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility, which is consistent with the pattern in these cases. Ukrainian officials have previously said that war criminals would face retribution.