Russia hits military training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. General Drapatyi orders inspection
On March 1, Russian troops struck a training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where Ukrainian military personnel were stationed. The Armed Forces command has scheduled an inspection, as announced by the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mykhailo Drapatyi.
"The tragedy at the training ground is a terrible consequence of an enemy strike. War requires quick decisions, responsibility, and new safety standards, otherwise we lose more than we have," he stressed.
Drapatyi expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and their fellow soldiers, and also announced that an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy is ongoing.
"I personally follow every step to find out everything second by second. Because it hurts me too. Because anger is eating away at me from the inside. I waited for the first data so as not to be unfounded, and now I have to warn you: everyone who made decisions that day, and everyone who did not make them on time, will all bear responsibility. No one will hide behind explanations or formal reports," the commander stated.
Drapatyi ordered an inspection with the participation of military counterintelligence so that "no detail is left unattended" and the guilty cannot "get away with it." The commander of the Ground Forces added that he would demand the harshest punishment.
As the officer noted, “we are witnesses to untimely decisions and unlearned lessons.” So he called on the generals, officers, sergeants, and soldiers of the Ground Forces to get rid of formalism, bureaucracy, and “frivolity.”
The Ground Forces clarified that there were dead and wounded as a result of the Russian strike.
"A thorough investigation and establishment of all the circumstances of the incident is currently underway. The Military Law Enforcement Service and law enforcement agencies are being provided with all necessary information to ensure maximum transparency of the investigation," the statement reads.
What is known about the strike?
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on March 1 that the Russian military had used an Iskander-M missile to strike the Novomoskovsk military training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Servicemen of the 157th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were allegedly undergoing military training there.
Later, Ukrainian MP Mariana Bezuhla wrote about “another death” of servicemen “due to an airstrike during formation.” She did not specify which incident her report referred to.
Journalist Yuriy Butusov claims that the 168th Reserve Battalion is stationed at the training ground in the village of Cherkaske, where almost all the service members are people who voluntarily left their previous military unit and are trying to transfer to another.
According to him, the number of people injured after the attack is about 130, more than 30 of them died.
Butusov stated that for a long time there were many people at the training ground, a large concentration of vehicles and tarpaulin tents, and at the same time "no protection."