{"id":38897,"date":"2026-09-08T07:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/38897\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T07:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T07:52:09","slug":"fsb-says-it-detained-suspect-in-attempted-murder-of-russian-general-ukraine-accuses-the-general-of-ordering-the-strike-on-kyivs-okhmatdyt-childrens-hospital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/38897\/","title":{"rendered":"FSB says it\u00a0detained suspect in\u00a0attempted murder of\u00a0Russian general. Ukraine accuses the general of\u00a0ordering the strike on\u00a0Kyiv\u2019s Okhmatdyt children\u2019s hospital."},"content":{"rendered":"

Officers with Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB) and the country\u2019s federal investigative authority detained a\u00a021-year-old Moldovan citizen, Nicolae Kochu, in\u00a0the Astrakhan region on\u00a0suspicion of\u00a0attempting to\u00a0murder a\u00a0Russian serviceman in\u00a0the Saratov region, the agencies reported.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0official data, the suspect fired six shots at\u00a0the serviceman on\u00a0September 3\u00a0in the village of\u00a0Probuzhdeniye, in\u00a0the Saratov region\u2019s Engels district. The serviceman was wounded but survived; his name has not been disclosed. The FSB specified only that he\u00a0holds a\u00a0high-ranking military position.<\/p>\n

Unofficial reports<\/a> identify him as\u00a0Major General Nikolai Varpakhovich, commander of\u00a0the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division in\u00a0the long-range aviation branch of\u00a0Russia\u2019s Aerospace Forces. Ukraine considers him responsible for the missile strike that hit the children\u2019s hospital<\/a> Okhmatdyt in\u00a0Kyiv on\u00a0July 8, 2024, when the facility had more than 600 patients and roughly as\u00a0many staff members on-site. Two people died in\u00a0that strike.<\/p>\n

The FSB claimed that a\u00a0Ukrainian intelligence officer recruited Kochu through social media in\u00a02025, while he\u00a0was looking for work in\u00a0Moldova. He\u00a0underwent \u201cmine-explosives and firearms training in\u00a0Kyiv\u201d in\u00a02026 and traveled to\u00a0Russia in\u00a0June with the aim of\u00a0killing the serviceman.<\/p>\n

Kochu was supposed to\u00a0return to\u00a0Moldova after the attack, but he\u00a0was detained while trying to\u00a0leave Russia. Authorities opened criminal cases against him for attempted murder and illegal arms trafficking.<\/p>\n

The FSB released video of\u00a0Kochu\u2019s detention and questioning, in\u00a0which he\u00a0says he\u00a0saw a\u00a0job ad\u00a0on\u00a0Instagram before Ukrainian representatives contacted\u00a0him. It\u00a0is\u00a0unclear under what circumstances the footage was recorded, and Kochu does not always manage to\u00a0get his words out on\u00a0the first try.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0Meduza, we\u00a0are committed to\u00a0transparency about our use of\u00a0artificial intelligence in\u00a0the newsroom. The story you\u2019re reading was written by\u00a0one of\u00a0our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an\u00a0AI\u00a0model configured to\u00a0follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is\u00a0the result of\u00a0extensive testing and refinements to\u00a0ensure our English-language coverage is\u00a0timely and accurate. A\u00a0Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0you find any errors in\u00a0this translation, please contact us\u00a0at\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To\u00a0read Meduza\u2019s exclusive content in\u00a0English, please subscribe to\u00a0our newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officers with Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB) and the country\u2019s federal investigative authority detained a\u00a021-year-old Moldovan citizen, Nicolae…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[151,146,149,138,131,143,133,144,150,139,127,134,128,136,137,129,132,130,148,142,135,147,145,141,140],"class_list":["post-38897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-151","tag-146","tag-149","tag-138","tag-131","tag-143","tag-133","tag-144","tag-150","tag-139","tag-127","tag-134","tag-128","tag-136","tag-137","tag-129","tag-132","tag-130","tag-148","tag-142","tag-135","tag-147","tag-145","tag-141","tag-140"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}