Ukraine suffered a heavy blow on Friday. But that could have been prevented, says Zelensky.
Kiev has launched a criminal investigation into the deaths of at least 19 Ukrainian soldiers who died in a Russian missile attack at a decoration ceremony in the Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made this known in his evening speech on Sunday. “This is a tragedy that could have been avoided,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov, also confirmed in a statement on Facebook that there will be an investigation into this case. The fact that the ceremony took place in the open air appears to be a violation of military regulations, as the New York Times reported. The investigation should focus primarily on how the Russian army might have found out about the ceremony, the report continues.
The unit’s worst loss since the start of the war
The Ukrainian army confirmed on Saturday that some soldiers from its 128th Mountain Infantry Brigade had been killed in a rocket attack the day before. On Monday, the military reported a specific number of 19 dead. “(Russia) fired an Iskander-M missile at personnel of the 128th Mountain Infantry Brigade, killing the soldiers and injuring local residents to varying degrees of severity,” the army said. After the attack last Friday, Ukrainian media initially reported that more than 20 people were dead.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had inflicted a “fire defeat” on a Ukrainian unit in Zaporizhia, killing up to 30 soldiers.
Loading…
Embed
A Ukrainian soldier took to online media to criticize the commanders for holding the ceremony. This would be the biggest loss the unit would have to endure in a single day since the beginning of the war, reported the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
Zelensky criticizes military leadership
“Everyone writes that ‘heroes died’. It would be more correct to write: ‘Heroes became victims’,” said a soldier in an interview with the Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera. “They were victims of rudimentary military traditionalism at its worst,” he added. In his statement, President Zelenskyj also complained about the deadlocked structures of the army. Thus, bureaucracy and the Soviet legacy would prevent many in Ukraine, and especially in the defense forces, from achieving their full potential.
There was also criticism on social media that the authorities and the minister only confirmed the devastating attack at the weekend, after the information had been circulating on social networks and ultimately in the media for quite a long time. Three days of mourning were announced in the soldiers’ home region of Zakarpattia.
It is the second time in a short period of time that cracks have appeared between the political and military leadership. Just last week, the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces declared in an interview with “The Economist” that they were currently in a military standoff with Russia. President Zelensky then vehemently contradicted him and forbade him to give any further interviews, according to the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
