A Russian general branded the ‘Butcher of Bucha’ has been targeted by a bomb explosion at his military garrison.
Major-General Azatbek Omurbekov, 42, commanded troops to commit barbaric mass rapes and murders during Vladimir Putin’s initial invasion of Ukraine.
The blast in Russia’s Khabarovsk region on the village of Knyaz-Volkonskoe-1, 5,000 miles east of Moscow, allegedly ‘killed a colonel’ and left several others wounded.
The condition of Omurbekov, believed to be the goal of the bombing, is unknown, but one local report said he ‘narrowly survived’.
The Russian authorities have classified the alleged bomb explosion as secret and imposed an information blackout, in response to VChK-OGPU, a Telegram channel with reported links to the safety services.
Omurbekov has been declared wanted by Ukraine for war crimes over the atrocities at Bucha, where Russian soldiers tortured and killed locals who had stayed of their homes in hopes of riding out the war.
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Some 20 people were evacuated, including eight children, in response to a press release.
‘One person was killed, and several other others were injured. The personnel were placed on alert. The explosion was geared toward General Omurbekov, who, since 2023, has been the top of the 392nd District Training Centre for Junior Specialists of the Eastern Military District.
It added: ‘In 2022, Omurbekov led the sixty fourth Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, which operated in Bucha.’
The person killed was identified as Lieutenant Colonel Kuzmenko, who worked as commander of the training communications battalion.
Pro-Ukrainian outlet InformNapalm said of Omurbekov: ‘If he hasn’t been caught yet, he’ll eventually be delivered to justice, because he’s a high-level war criminal who is not going to have the ability to flee punishment.’
Putin has rewarded Omurbekov with two promotions: first to full colonel after which to major-general. He was also named ‘Hero of Russia’ for his ‘heroism, bravery, fortitude and courage’.
The brigade Omurbekov commanded is accountable for murders in Bucha, where Russian soldiers raped and tortured local Ukrainians.
On one in all the primary days of the Russian occupation in Bucha, local woman Tetiana Pomazanko thought the tanks were Ukrainian and walked out to see them.
Russians opened fire on her, killing her immediately. In early April, almost a month after she was killed, Tetiana’s body was still lying, half-buried in her yard.
Her mother, Antonina Pomazanko, said: ‘I buried her a bit within the night. There was a lot shelling, I didn’t know what to do.’
Volodymyr Shepitko, 66, told the Latest York Times that when he returned to his home in Bucha after its liberation in 2022, he discovered the body of a unadorned woman, wearing only a fur coat, within the cellar under his garden shed.
Beside her body, there have been condom wrappers and a used condom, together with the 2 bullet casings used to kill her.
Ukraine’s official ombudswoman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, said she recorded one instance of sexual violence by Russian troops where a gaggle of girls and girls were kept in a basement for 25 days. Nine of them fell pregnant.
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