The SBU suspected a Russian general who ordered to attack a theater and a maternity hospital in Mariupol

Ukraine has served a notice of suspicion in absentia to the Russian general who ordered the strikes on a theater and maternity ward in Mariupol in March 2022. This was reported to by Security Service of Ukraine.

We are talking about the commander of the 4th Army of the Air Force of the Southern Military District of Russia, Lieutenant General Nikolai Guestev.

According to the investigation, in March 2022, he ordered an air strike in the center of Mariupol. The occupiers targeted the building of the maternity ward of City Hospital No. 3, residential buildings, and the regional drama theater.

The Russians used 10 warplanes for the strikes: Su-30SM (M2) fighters and Su-24M frontline bombers. It is documented that during the air attack, warplanes targeted the maternity ward and the drama theater of FAB-500.

Also, on the order of the Russian general, his subordinates bombed residential buildings in the central part of Mariupol.

Gostev is charged with war crimes combined with premeditated murder committed by a group of people.

The SBU reminded that in 2023 the general received the first suspicion for commanding the shelling of civilian infrastructure in Mariupol.

• On March 9, 2022, the Russian occupiers deliberately bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol.
• On March 16, Russian troops destroyed a drama theater in the center of Mariupol, where about 1,000 civilians were hiding from the raids. At the same time, there were two large signs in the yards of the theater that read CHILDREN, which were visible even from a satellite.
• On March 25, the Mariupol City Council, citing eyewitness accounts, reported that about 300 people died as a result of the bombing of the theater.