By Newsmata
Approximately 30 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian cluster munitions strike on a training ground in the country’s southeastern Kherson region, according to a Ukrainian regiment. Newsweek could not independently verify the battlefield report and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Why It Matters
A day earlier, the Ukrainian military confirmed Moscow had carried out a deadly ballistic missile strike on a training area for ground troops in Cherkaske, in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, on March 1. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said people had been killed or injured, but did not specify how many.
What To Know
Ukraine’s 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment said on Tuesday that it had “struck a concentration of enemy infantry at one of the Russian training grounds” in Kherson with cluster munitions.
Approximately 30 Russian soldiers were killed in the strike, which was carried out alongside special forces, the military said. Reports suggested Ukraine used a cluster munitions version of rockets fired by the U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) Kyiv has effectively wielded for nearly three years.
File photo: Russian reservists undergo additional training at a training ground in Kherson on October 13, 2022. Ivan Rodionov / Sputnik via AP
Russia has claimed to have annexed Ukraine’s southeastern Kherson region, along with Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia in mainland Ukraine, although it does not fully control these regions. Moscow seized Crimea in 2014, which is not internationally recognized.
A Ukrainian official and several Russian sources said in February last year that Kyiv hit a training area for Russian troops close to the city of Volnovakha, in the embattled Donetsk region, using HIMARS. Up to 65 Russian soldiers were killed, sources said at the time.
Syrskyi said on Monday that Moscow had attacked a Ukrainian training area in Dnipropetrovsk “in the middle of the day” on March 1.
In a separate statement, Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation said it had launched a criminal investigation into the Russian strike “to establish all the circumstances of the tragedy and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Syrskyi said the chief of the training center and the commander of the military unit at the facility had been suspended from duty. Major General Mykhailo Drapaty, the chief of Ukraine’s land forces, called the strike a “tragedy,” adding: “I’m being eaten up by anger.”
“Everyone who made decisions that day, and everyone who did not make them on time, will be held accountable,” Drapaty said. “No one will hide behind explanations or formal reports.”
What People Are Saying
Ukraine’s 14th Unmanned Aerial Systems Regiment said on social media on Tuesday that “revenge caught up with the Russians.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen how ceasefire discussions will impact strikes exchanged between Russian and Ukrainian forces, and how quickly any agreement could be put in place.