Enlarge image

Russian military police in the occupied Ukrainian city of Volnovakha in early November 2023

Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO

According to media reports, dozens of soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike on a Russian military training area in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military fired on motorized infantry riflemen from Transbaikalia, a Siberian region east of Lake Baikal, as they waited for their commander, the BBC's Russian service reported. According to the editorial team's assessment, based on available images and video material, there were at least 60 deaths. There was initially no information about the incident from Moscow. Russian military bloggers, however, confirmed the attack.

Accordingly, the incident is said to have occurred on Tuesday afternoon near the village of Trudivske near Volnovakha. The Russian troops had already conquered the area shortly after the outbreak of the war of aggression ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. It is around 20 kilometers to the current front line. Now two rockets from a US Himar-type multiple rocket launcher are said to have hit there.

more on the subject

  • Reports of flower laying: Women of conscripted Russians are apparently protesting at military cemeteries

  • Fall of Avdiivka Fortress: The Russians had ten times as many projectiles as the Ukrainian defenders By Oliver Imhof and Alexander Sarovic

  • Incident in the southwest of the country: Drone attack on Russian military base - apparently several injured

Soldier apparently insults commanders

The hit was also confirmed by the influential Telegram channel Rybar, which is close to the Russian Defense Ministry. In addition to the negligence of the commanding officers, the channel also complained about the publication of the pictures by the survivors: the enemy had thereby gained propaganda material. For example, there is a video of a soldier circulating on the Internet that was apparently recorded immediately after the attack. In it, the soldier blames the responsible commanders for the deaths of the soldiers and insults them.

Cases are repeatedly made public in which Ukraine manages to inflict heavy losses on the Russian army due to their negligence. However, the Ukrainian defenders are significantly inferior to the attackers in terms of firepower and personnel because of the halting Western military aid and have therefore been on the defensive for some time.

col/dpa