Ukrainian land forces commander steps down
The commander of Ukraine’s Land Forces, Mikhail Drapaty, has resigned from his post, taking responsibility for the deaths of Ukrainian troops in consecutive strikes on a military training center.
At least 12 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 60 more injured on Sunday in a Russian strike, Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne wrote. Kiev did not reveal the exact location, but according to Suspilne sources, it could be located near the Novomoskovsky military training site in Dnepropetrovsk Region.
The Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed that it struck a tent camp at the Novomoskovsky training ground on Sunday, targeting the 158th Separate Mechanized Brigade (SMB) and the 33rd SMB of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“I have decided to submit a report on my resignation from the post of Commander of the Land Forces of the AFU,” Drapaty wrote in a social media statement on Saturday.
“This is a conscious step dictated by my personal sense of responsibility for the tragedy at the 239th training ground, as a result of which our soldiers died,” he said.
“We have no right to live in a system that does not learn. If we do not draw conclusions, do not change our attitude to service, do not admit our mistakes, we are doomed,” Drapaty wrote, adding that he has opened an investigation into the circumstances at the training ground.
In March, the Russian Defense Ministry reported it had struck the facility with an Iskander-M missile, killing up to 150 Ukrainian service members and 30 foreign military instructors. In the wake of the attack, Drapaty railed against “outdated procedures” and negligence within AFU ranks.
Corruption has been a rampant and long-running issue for Ukraine’s defense sector, affecting everything from munitions and food supply lines to embezzlement of funds meant for defensive fortifications.
Last month, the Security Service of Ukraine reported it had arrested several military officials involved with a corruption scheme that supplied Kiev’s armed forces with some 120,000 defective mortar shells.
