Photo: Russia strikes training ground in Dnipropetrovsk region (Getty Images) Author: Maria Kucheryavets
On March 1, Russian occupiers launched a missile attack on a training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region, there are dead and wounded. The information about the attack was officially confirmed by the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, an investigation into the circumstances of the incident has been ordered.
RBC-Ukraine has collected everything that is known about the tragedy in the material below.
Content
- What is known about the strike on the test site
- General Drapatiy announced an inspection
- Ground forces report dead and wounded
- The State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case under the article “negligence”
- What is known about the 157th Brigade
What is known about the strike on the test site
Yesterday, information about a Russian missile strike on a training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region where Ukrainian servicemen of the 157th separate mechanized brigade were stationed spread on social networks. A large number of dead and wounded were reported.
The strike allegedly hit the Novomoskovsky training ground, which is located near the village of Cherkasskoye (Dnipropetrovsk region). The distance from it to the contact line is 100-130 km. As blogger and volunteer Sergey Sternenko wrote, the strike was adjusted for a Russian reconnaissance UAV.
Yesterday, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video on its Telegram channel showing a cluster warhead landing on a concentration of personnel. It can be seen here. Russian terrorists claim that the strike was carried out by an Iskander-M OTRK crew.
General Drapatiy announced an inspection
The Commander of the Ground Forces, Mikhail Drapatiy, responded to the incident today and stated that an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy is underway.
“The tragedy at the training ground is a terrible consequence of an enemy attack. War requires quick decisions, responsibility and new safety standards, otherwise we lose more than we have… I personally follow every step to find out everything down to the second. Because it hurts me too. Because anger eats away at me from within,” Drapatiy noted.
There were reports online about why the military command did not immediately respond to what had happened. General Drapatiy noted that he “waited for the first data so as not to be unfounded.”
“And now I must warn you: everyone who made decisions that day, and everyone who did not make them on time, will all be held accountable. No one will hide behind explanations or formal reports. I foresee that they will try to hide the truth in the fog of bureaucracy. But I will not allow this,” he said.
The Commander of the Ground Forces ordered an investigation with the participation of military counterintelligence so that “not a single detail would be left unattended, and the guilty would be named and would not be able to 'get away with it.'” He emphasized that he would demand the most severe punishment.
“Those who continue to carry out their duties negligently and formally for years of war, those who “drag” the military into outdated procedures, neglecting their safety, those who assert themselves not in battle, but by oppressing their subordinates – all of them disgrace the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are witnesses to untimely decisions and unlearned lessons,” Drapatiy noted.
The general called on all generals, officers, sergeants and soldiers of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to “get rid of formalism, bureaucracy and frivolity”, because each of them “is responsible for the lives of their brothers. Both in battle and in the rear”.
Ground forces report dead and wounded
Later, an official statement from the Ukrainian Ground Forces was released. It confirmed that on March 1, one of their units became the target of an enemy missile strike.
” Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded ,” the statement said, but did not specify the exact number.
Meanwhile, Suspilne, citing sources in a medical institution, writes that in one of the regional hospitals in the Dnipropetrovsk region there are “a large number of wounded” as a result of the strike on a training ground in the region where the military was located. Some of the wounded were allegedly evacuated to other medical institutions.
The Ground Forces note that a thorough investigation is currently underway to establish all the circumstances of the incident, and the military law enforcement service and law enforcement agencies are provided with all the necessary information to ensure maximum transparency of the investigation.
The State Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal case under the article “negligence”
The State Bureau of Investigation reported that it had opened a criminal case into the death and injury of Ukrainian servicemen as a result of a Russian missile strike on a testing ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
“The State Bureau of Investigation notes the importance of a thorough and impartial investigation to establish all the circumstances of the tragedy and bring those responsible to justice. Investigative actions aimed at clarifying all the details of the incident are currently ongoing. A special joint group of law enforcement officers has left for the scene of the shooting,” the statement reads.
Criminal proceedings have been opened under Part 4 of Article 425 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (negligent attitude towards military service committed under martial law or in a combat situation).
What is known about the 157th Brigade
The 157th separate mechanized brigade began to form in the spring of 2024. It actually joined combat missions in November (and individual units – in September). Immediately – to one of the hottest directions. By the end of 2024, the brigade was fighting near Kurakhovo, and by the end of December 2024, units of the brigade were sent to Pokrovsk.
The media wrote about problems in the brigade with unauthorized abandonment of the unit (UAU). In particular, as Hromadske wrote, their number could reach no less than a third, that is, from several hundred to more than a thousand soldiers, but the brigade commander Petro Chub denied the veracity of these numbers.
The brigade's fighters complained of poor training, “managerial chaos,” and that recruits were being sent to assault units. The brigade commander told reporters that when the servicemen realized that personnel were often being transferred to the Air Assault Forces, the number of cases of unauthorized abandonment of the unit increased.
Let us recall that similar cases have occurred before. In particular, on November 3, 2023, in the Zaporizhia region, a Russian missile hit a gathering of soldiers of the 128th separate mountain assault Transcarpathian brigade, who had gathered for an award ceremony for the Day of Missile Troops and Artillery. As a result, there were killed and wounded servicemen.
Then the President of Ukraine, reacting to the death of the soldiers of the 128th separate assault battalion, stated that “this is a tragedy that could have been avoided.”
The commander of the 128th brigade, Dmitry Lysyuk, was suspended from his post pending investigation. He himself was late for the awarding of the military, he arrived at the scene literally a couple of minutes after landing. More about the tragedy – in a separate article by RBC-Ukraine.
In preparing the material, the following were used: statements by the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and General Mykhailo Drapatiy, Telegram of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Suspilne, Hromadske and other data from open sources.
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