Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) Oleksandr Syrsky dismissed some unit heads pending a criminal investigation and ordered his commanders to review missile threat alert procedures following a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian training base.
In a midday attack on Saturday, March 1, the Russian struck a training base in the Dnipropetrovsk region, reportedly using a cluster-munitions-equipped Iskander-M ballistic missile.
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According to the Russian Defense Ministry, its strike claimed the lives of “up to 150 Ukrainian soldiers and 30 foreign instructors.”
Syrsky dismissed the head of the unit training center and the commander of the affected military unit pending an investigation.
“I express my sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of the fallen defenders of Ukraine,” Syrsky stated in a social media post. “The Russian aggressor will pay dearly for this crime.”
Syrsky ordered his commanders to review compliance with orders prohibiting personnel from gathering in open areas and non-designated locations. He also emphasized the need for deep, protected structures to ensure personnel safety and ordered an assessment of the engineering work done to equip them.
Initial reports suggested that the Russians’ target was the Novomoskovsk training ground. Ukrainian media indicated that soldiers from the 157th Separate Mechanized Brigade were stationed there.
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The 157th was formed in the spring of 2024 and went into combat in November.
By late 2024, the 157th was engaged in battles near Kurakhove, with additional units stationed near Pokrovsk by the end of December.
Before the strike, concerns had been raised by the brigade’s soldiers regarding inadequate training, “management chaos,” and recruits being sent to assault units without sufficient preparation.
The Ukrainian Ground Forces commander Mykhailo Drapaty, acknowledged the attack on Monday morning, March 3 – two days after it had occurred.
He said there would be accountability, warning that those culpable – whether through action or inaction – would not evade responsibility.
He refrained from specifying the exact location of the strike or confirming casualty numbers but said that an investigation was underway and that he was personally overseeing its progress.
“I will demand the strictest punishment,” he wrote. “Those who negligently and bureaucratically fulfill their duties in wartime, those who burden [soldiers] with outdated procedures at the expense of safety, and those who seek authority not on the battlefield but by mistreating subordinates – all of them disgrace the AFU.”
Following the attack, the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) announced the launch of a criminal probe into the deaths and injuries of Ukrainian servicemembers at the training site.
According to Suspilne media outlet, one of the regional hospitals in the Dnipropetrovsk region is currently treating a large number of wounded following the attack.
Many have sustained mine-blast injuries, with shrapnel wounds affecting the head, limbs, abdomen, and chest.
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