Russia general who commanded destruction of civil infrastructure in northern Ukraine in 2022 notified of suspicion in absentia - SBU
The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the prosecutor’s office have documented new war crimes committed by Russian Lieutenant General Sergey Kisel, commander of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District of Russia, the SBU reports.
"In the period from February 24 to March 23, 2022, he commanded the 4th Tank Division of Russia (better known as the Kantemirovskaya Division named after Yuri Andropov), which participated in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine," the Ukrainian special service informed on its Telegram channel on Thursday.
According to the case files, under Kisel’s command, units of the formation attacked settlements in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
"It has been established that by order of the Russian general, his subordinates fired point-blank at civil infrastructure facilities using heavy armored vehicle guns and tube artillery. As a result of enemy attacks at that time, 137 civilians, including 8 children, were killed in the Sumy region alone. Hundreds of residential buildings and administrative structures were destroyed," the report emphasizes.
Based on the collected evidence, SBU investigators notified Kisel in absentia of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (conducting an aggressive war). The issue of placing him on the international wanted list is being resolved.
The agency recalls that in September 2025, the SBU notified the Russian general in absentia of suspicion under Part 2 of Art. 28 and Part 2 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons).
At that time, it was established that on February 25, 2022, Kisel participated in organizing strikes on the civil infrastructure of Okhtyrka using Grad and Uragan multiple launch
rocket
systems.
The investigation was conducted by SBU officers in the Sumy region under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor’s office.
