22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division
The 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division is a long-range aviation formation of the Russian Aerospace Forces, based at Engels airfield in Saratov Oblast. Part of the 1st Guards Composite Aviation Corps, it operates the air force's fleet of strategic bombers, including Tu-160 and Tu-95 aircraft capable of launching cruise missiles.
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Assassination attempt on Russian general in Engels days after Ukraine notified him of suspicion over Okhmatdyt strike
An unknown assailant on a motorcycle shot and critically wounded a Russian Aerospace Forces officer on the morning of 3 September in the settlement of Probuzhdeniye near Engels, Saratov Oblast. Russian media identified the victim as Major General Mykola Varpakhovych, commander of the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. The attack came three days after Ukraine's SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General notified Varpakhovych in absentia of suspicion in connection with the July 2024 missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv.