Ukraine’s HIMARS attack wiped out at least 60 Russian soldiers who gathered in a field this week, ignoring important wartime rules that Russia has repeatedly ignored during the war, according to reports and video footage.
The Russian battalion was assembled at a training range near the village of Tordovske in occupied eastern Ukraine when the two missiles struck. BBC reported Wednesday.
A source familiar with the incident told the outlet that the soldiers were gathered to await the arrival of senior commanders.
Alexander Osipov, acting governor of nearby Transbaikalia, confirmed the strike on Tuesday. telegram postprovides details about the missile attack and information for soldiers’ families.
Osipov identified the 36th Motorized Rifle Brigade as the affected battalion, but said information on the death toll and details were “significantly exaggerated.”
graphic video Footage of the immediate aftermath of the strike shared online by Yaroslav Trofimov, The Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign affairs correspondent showed dozens of corpses in a field.
Additional video footage and estimates from soldiers who survived the airstrike suggest the death toll is at least 60, the BBC reported. Surviving soldiers also said in videos seen by the media that their commanders forced them to stand in the field.
According to a report cited by the BBC, the men were waiting for Maj. Gen. Oleg Moiseyev, commander of the 29th Army of the Eastern Military Region.
The attack on Ukraine occurred hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu were to meet on television to celebrate the military victory.
Ukraine has not yet commented on the attack, but the BBC reported that the US-made HIMARS launch system was used to launch the two missiles.
This is not the first time Russia has resisted a simple military operation with deadly consequences.
In August, Ukraine announced that it had launched a HIMARS attack on five Russian military units massed on its coast, resulting in 200 casualties and the destruction of equipment.
“It would be unwise to concentrate troops within range of the Ukrainian military,” Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and U.S.-Soviet relations, told Business Insider at the time. .
Russian military leaders faced similar shelling in June, following reports that large Russian troops were attacked in positions near the front lines. Some contemporary accounts suggested that the troops were assembled to await a general’s pep talk before a dangerous mission.
Ukraine was criticized in November following a similar scenario in which 19 soldiers were killed by Russian missiles at an open-air awards ceremony near the front lines.