Ukraine says it will conduct criminal inquiry into attack
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said Sunday that criminal proceedings had been initiated over an episode in which Russian missiles struck a group of Ukrainian soldiers at an award ceremony in the south of the country, killing some and leaving others wounded.
Zelenskyy, who said the strike had taken place in the Zaporizhzhia region, gave no details about what had happened and did not cite a casualty toll, but Ukraine's government rarely talks about setbacks in its war against Russia, and his acknowledgment suggested a military failure of unusual gravity.
“It is a tragedy that could have been avoided,” Zelenskyy said in a speech released on social media. “The main thing is to establish the complete truth about what happened and prevent such incidents from happening again.”
A military official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to disclose information, said that two missiles struck in succession Friday morning as soldiers from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade gathered in the village of Zarichne, around 10 miles north of the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region. The soldiers were there to mark Artillery Day, one of a series of days in Ukraine to honor branches of the military.
The official said that any investigation would focus on how Russia had found out about the event, enabling it to target it. But the official said that by holding the ceremony in the open, senior brigade members appeared to have violated military dogma in a conflict in which both sides have struck at troop concentrations behind the front lines.
In a statement on Facebook late Saturday, Ukraine's military said Russia had launched “sneak attacks” on 26 settlements in Zaporizhzhia and targeted personnel of the 128th brigade with a missile, “resulting in the deaths of servicemen and various degrees of injuries to local residents.” It did not give further details.
Viktor Mykyta, head of the military administration in Zakarpattia, a western region from which many members of the brigade came, confirmed the strike and deaths, and he announced three days of mourning in his region. “I recommend visiting the churches and praying for our defenders,” he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had been active in the Zaporizhzhia region but did not refer directly to a strike in Zarichne. It was not possible to confirm the number of casualties independently or the nature of the strike in Zaporizhzhia. Both sides have suffered substantial casualties this year amid fierce fighting, although battle lines have remained largely static, and it did not appear that Friday's strike was sufficiently bad to alter the trajectory of the war.