(Reuters) -A Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian training unit killed three servicemen and injured 18 on Tuesday in the latest in a series of similar attacks on training facilities, Ukraine’s Ground Forces said.
“Today, July 29, the enemy launched a missile strike on the territory of one of the training units of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the Ground Forces said in a statement on Telegram.
“Despite the security measures taken, unfortunately it was not possible to completely avoid losses among the personnel. As of 21:30, it is known that there are three dead and 18 wounded servicemen.”
The Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday that its units carried out Iskander missile strikes on a training camp of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region, Russian agencies reported.
Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian and Russian reports.
Ukraine’s report gave no indication where the attack had taken place. But military bloggers suggested it had occurred near the country’s northern border in Chernihiv region.
The military statement said a Commission would investigate the incident and if it was established that deaths or injuries “were caused by the actions or inaction of officials, those found guilty will be held accountable”.
Additional security measures, it said, were being introduced to protect servicemen from missile or other air attacks on training centres.
A Russian attack on a training ground in central Ukraine in June killed 12 servicemen and wounded dozens. The incident prompted the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces to tender his resignation and he was reassigned to another post.
Another attack in June struck a training centre in southern Ukraine, killing three servicemen and injuring 14.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski, Oleksandr Kozhukhar and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Chris Reese, Sandra Maler and Michael Perry)
