The SSU collected evidence against russian lieutenant general Konstantin Stepanishchev, deputy commander of the 6^th combined arms army of russia’s western military district.

The official developed and tried to implement an operation to capture Kharkiv by the end of February 2022.

According to Stepanishchev’s plan, the ground forces subordinate to him were to surround the city and take it in a ring in 5 days.

To do this, assault groups of russian troops were to be covered by russian fighter jets, and Iskander ballistic missiles were to attack the civilian infrastructure of the city.

During the fighting, a special forces group of russian military intelligence (known as ‘the GRU’) tried to infiltrate Kharkiv to seize the local administration building and raise the russian flag there.

If the city was captured, Stepanishchev planned to order his subordinate units to take control of all administrative and strategic facilities and to launch a full range of isolation and filtration measures against Kharkiv residents.

However, the russian general’s blitzkrieg failed due to the actions of Ukraine’s Defence Forces.

Stepanishchev has been involved in warfare against Ukrainian troops in Luhansk region since 2014. At that time, he commanded the 4^th separate motorized rifle brigade of the russian armed forces.

He was subsequently promoted to general, given a new position, a ‘hero of russia’ star, and an order to prepare for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

SSU investigators served Stepanishchev a notice of suspicion in absentia under Articles 28.2, 437.2 of the CCU (waging an aggressive war, committed upon prior conspiracy, by a group).

Efforts are underway to find and punish the russian war criminal.

The investigation was carried out by the SSU Office in Kharkiv region under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.