Russian officer involved in Hroza civilian massacre critically injured in explosion

This was reported by Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate.

The injured is Captain Kostiantin Nagaiko, commander of a battery in the division of the 112th Missile Brigade of the 1st Tank Army of the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces.

At the time of the explosion in the city of Shuya, Ivanovo region, Russia, Nagaiko was on duty at his military unit. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Nagaiko sustained multiple shrapnel injuries to nearly all of his organs, including his brain. A craniotomy was performed.

He was born in 1995 in the city of Svobodny, Amur region, Russia. He graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation and the Mikhailovskaya Military Artillery Academy.

"He directly participated in the full-scale war against Ukraine and was involved in ballistic missile strikes with 'Iskander' systems on civilian and military targets in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions," the intelligence noted.

Specifically, on October 5, 2023, Nagaiko’s unit launched a missile strike on a café during a memorial service in the village of Hroza in the Kupyansk district. The attack killed 59 Ukrainian civilians, including an 8-year-old boy.

"There are bleak rumors in the Russian 112th Missile Brigade that the 29-year-old Russian murderer Nagaiko has little chance of survival. His condition is critical," the intelligence added.

The tragedy in Hroza

On October 5, 2023, Russia shelled the village of Hroza in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, killing 59 people. Russian troops targeted a café where a memorial lunch was taking place with an Iskander-M missile.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights sent a field team to investigate the Russian strike on Hroza in the Kharkiv region.

Later, law enforcement identified the alleged spotters for the Russian strike on Hroza — local ex-police brothers who defected to the Russian side. According to reports, the older brother learned from locals who would attend the memorial, when it would occur, and where. He passed this information to his Russian superiors, who decided to attack the civilian target.