“I predict that they will try to hide the truth in the fog of bureaucracy”: Drapaty about the tragedy at the training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region
The impact of the Russian ballistic missile “Iskander-M” on the 168th reserve battalion of the operational command “East” was another painful blow for the Ukrainian army. On March 1, at 3:20 p.m., a rocket hit the unit’s tent camp located near the village of Cherkaske in the Dnipropetrovsk region. As a result of the attack on data According to the media, 39 servicemen were killed, and up to 90 were wounded. The target of the shelling was the place of temporary deployment of the military, which, as it turned out, was discovered by enemy scouts with the help of a drone.
The first reports about the strike began to appear in Russian sources, but only a day after the tragedy, official confirmation came from the Ukrainian side. On March 3, the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces recognized the fact of the attack, having informed about the dead and wounded, as well as about the start of an official investigation.
The strike on the 168th battalion caused a wide response and a new wave of discussions about the observance of security protocols in the Armed Forces and the repetition of mistakes when Russian missiles and drones attacked the concentration of Ukrainian troops. Enemy attacks on large concentrations of personnel have occurred several times before, but the practice of deploying troops in places that can be detected by the enemy remains a vulnerable point.
The mother of one of the soldiers, who was at the training ground at the time of the attack, is anonymous told RFE/RL reports that the attack took place a few minutes after the line-up, and there was nothing to save the wounded. According to her, doctors were absent, as were first aid kits and first aid kits. She noted that an ambulance was either not called, or it did not arrive in time, so the wounded had to be loaded into private cars and taken to medical units. Some soldiers in cars were dragged with belts to stop the bleeding.
The woman said that her son survived only because he entered the tent at the time of the impact. The hit took place in the place of the largest crowd of people. She also emphasized that there was no shelter at the camp site, and many mines were found after the strike. After the tragedy, her son told her that there were a lot of injured people, and bodies that were thrown away by the blast wave are still being found.
Mykhailo Drapatoy’s reaction
Commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Mykhailo Drapaty, on his Facebook page reacted on the tragedy and assured that he personally supervises the investigation. As Drapaty noted, war requires quick decisions, responsibility and new security standards, otherwise the losses will be even greater. He emphasized that no one involved in the organization of the presence of the military in the strike zone will escape responsibility, as everyone who made or did not make a decision on time will be punished for it. He also expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and brothers, assuring that no one responsible for the tragedy will be able to hide behind bureaucratic formalities.
“I personally follow every step to find out everything second by second. Because I am also in pain. Because anger is eating away from the inside.
No one hides behind explanations or formal reports.
I predict that they will try to hide the truth in the fog of bureaucracy. But I will not allow it. He ordered an independent inspection with the participation of military counter-intelligence, so that no detail was overlooked, and the guilty were named and could not “exonerate themselves”, – said the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Drapaty emphasized that an independent review with the participation of military counter-intelligence has already been scheduled to establish all the details of the event and exclude the possibility of hiding the truth. He declared that he would not allow anyone responsible for negligence or negligence to escape punishment. According to him, those who continue to work with outdated methods during the war years, putting personnel under attack, should not remain in the army.
According to him, this tragedy should be the last call for all decision-makers in the army. Ukraine cannot afford to lose people due to organizational mistakes and negligence. Drapaty emphasized that the safety of servicemen should be the top priority, and the departure from outdated procedures is necessary to keep the army combat-ready. He assured that he would do everything possible to prevent the recurrence of similar tragedies in the future.
“We are witnesses of untimely decisions and unlearned lessons. I call again and again to all generals, officers, sergeants and soldiers of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: we must get rid of formalism, bureaucracy and frivolity. Each of us is responsible for the lives of our fellow men. Both in battle and in the rear.” – summed up the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Such tragedies are not the first time, and each time society and the military command discuss the need for changes in approaches to the security of the military. However, the lessons from the past have not been fully learned. Questions that arise after each such disaster remain open. Who should be responsible for the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers in the rear? How should military personnel be trained to avoid similar tragedies in the future? The answers to these questions are critically important not only for the preservation of military lives, but also for the effective conduct of war in general.
