A commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces has resigned after the Russian missile strike that killed twelve members under his command.
Posting on Telegram app on Sunday, Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi announced he was resigning from the position of Commander of the Land Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “As commander, I failed to fully ensure the execution of my orders. I didn’t press hard enough, didn’t persuade, didn’t change how people in the ranks are treated. That is my responsibility,” the Major General wrote.
"Twelve dead. There are injured. These are young lads from the training battalion. Most of them were in shelters. They should have learned, lived, and fought - not died,” he added.
The commander was referring to an incident on June 1 in which a Russian attack on a training field killed 12 Ukrainian soldiers and wounded 60 others. The news of the attack on the training ground was first reported by the Land Forces’ press service office that pledged to bring to justice those responsible for the incident.
Drapatyi identified the training ground as the 239th Polygon, north of Dnipro city. The same site had been the venue of deadly Russian attack with an Iskander ballistic missile in March.
Russia has scaled up attacks on Ukrainian training grounds in recent months.
