Investigation into ‘medal ceremony’ deaths of Ukraine soldiers

A Ukrainian military brigade said on Monday 19 of its soldiers were killed last week in a Russian air strike that president Volodymyr Zelenskiy described as “a tragedy that could have been avoided”.

Ukrainian media reported that the soldiers were killed during an awards ceremony on Friday in the frontline Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine. A statement issued by the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade on Monday provided the death toll but gave few other details.

Ukraine’s defence minister said on Saturday an investigation had been launched into the attack, and Ukraine’s military said separately that Russia had struck the Zaporizhzhia region with an Iskander ballistic missile.

Reuters news agency said it has not been able to verify details of the attack independently. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had fired on Ukrainian troops in the region, and that it had killed up to 30 military personnel.

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Ukraine’s state bureau of investigations said on Monday it was investigating a decision by the military command to organise an event for Rocket and Artillery Day in a village close to the front line in Zaporizhzhia, but did not say what the event was.

“The main thing is to establish the complete truth about what happened and prevent such incidents happening again,” Mr Zelenskiy said on Sunday. “Now the investigation must provide honest answers to the families of the fallen soldiers and society about how this tragedy occurred and whether any improper orders were issued.”

Officials in Kyiv on Sunday said Russian drone and missile strikes in Odesa wounded eight people and damaged an art museum that is part of a Unesco World Heritage site.

Kyiv launched a counteroffensive in southeastern Ukraine in early June but progress has been slow against entrenched Russian forces who invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Meanwhile, a large group of Russia’s former Wagner mercenaries has started training with special forces from the southern Russian region of Chechnya, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Monday.

Wagner played a prominent role in some of the fiercest fighting of Russia’s war in Ukraine, but its future was thrown into question when its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in August, two months after leading a brief mutiny against the Russian defence establishment.

Kadyrov said in a message on Telegram that a big group of ex-Wagner fighters was undergoing intensive training with his own Akhmat special forces.

“I am glad that today the ranks of the famous [Akhmat] unit have been joined by fighters who have excellent combat experience and have proven themselves as brave and efficient warriors,” he said. “I am confident that in the upcoming battles they will fully live up to their reputation.”

He published a video, accompanied by stirring music, showing soldiers in combat training, including some wearing Wagner insignia on their uniforms and masks over their faces. Kadyrov said the drills included shooting, field medicine and training for snipers, machine gunners, sappers and artillerymen.

It was not clear how many Wagner men were taking part or whether any of them would stay on with the Chechen forces after the training was over.

After Prigozhin’s death the Kremlin rejected as an “absolute lie” suggestions that he had been killed on president Vladimir Putin’s orders to punish him for the June mutiny. Russia has yet to publish the results of an investigation into the fatal plane crash.

Putin subsequently moved to bring Wagner’s fighters under the control of the state, ordering them to sign an oath of allegiance, and the Kremlin has repeatedly said the group does not exist as a legal entity. – Reuters