Ukraine orders investigation into Russian assault on assault brigade

LVIV, Ukraine, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s defence minister ordered on Saturday an investigation into an alleged Russian ballistic missile assault on Ukrainian assault brigade, after experiences that greater than 20 troopers had been killed throughout an awards ceremony.

“My condolences to the households of the fallen troopers from the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Transcarpathian Brigade,” Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov stated in a social media assertion, including that he had ordered a “full investigation.”

In a separate assertion on the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s Armed Forces stated that Russia attacked the Zaporizhzhia area with the Iskander ballistic missile.

“Servicemen had been killed, and native residents had been additionally injured,” the army stated.

It was not clear what number of troopers died.

The statements got here after a flurry of earlier experiences on Ukrainian social media and from army bloggers that greater than 20 troopers had been killed in a village near the entrance strains in Zaporizhzhia throughout an award ceremony commemorating the Artillery Day on Friday.

In its each day experiences on battlefield actions, the Russian Defence Ministry stated solely that Russian forces “inflicted hearth” on a unit of Ukraine’s assault brigade within the area, killing as much as 30 army personnel.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the experiences.

Each Russia and Ukraine have usually underestimated their army casualties within the 20-month-long conflict, whereas exaggerating the losses they declare to have inflicted upon one another.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.