Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers reportedly killed and nearly 100 wounded by Russian strike on training ground in Dnipropetrovsk region

Russian forces struck a Ukrainian military training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Saturday, killing and injuring soldiers from one of Ukraine’s Ground Forces units, according to an official statement the Ukrainian army published on Monday. The official number of casualties has not been confirmed, but Ukrainian media reports suggest that dozens of soldiers were killed and around 100 wounded. Here’s what we know so far about the strike.

Russian forces launched a missile strike on a Ukrainian military training ground in the Dnipropetrovsk region on March 1, killing and wounding soldiers from one of Ukraine’s Ground Forces units, according to a statement published by the Ukrainian military branch on March 3.

The exact number of casualties has not been officially disclosed. However, Ukrainska Pravda, citing sources, reported that “several dozen soldiers were killed and up to a hundred wounded.” Suspilne also cited sources saying a “large number” of wounded soldiers had been taken to hospitals in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Ground Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapatyi said an investigation is underway, with an independent review involving military counterintelligence. “Everyone who made decisions that day, and everyone who failed to make them in time, will be held accountable,” he said.

Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuhla and several Ukrainian military bloggers claimed that Russian forces struck the training ground while soldiers were assembled in formation. Drapatyi did not confirm this directly but said he would push for “the harshest punishment” for those who “drag soldiers into outdated procedures, neglecting their safety.”

On the evening of March 1, Russia’s Defense Ministry published a video on Telegram claiming it showed an Iskander-M missile strike on the Novomoskovsk military training ground near the village of Cherkaske in the Dnipropetrovsk region, where troops from Ukraine’s 157th Mechanized Brigade were stationed. Geolocation analysis confirms the footage does show the training ground near Cherkaske. Numerous tents are visible in the video, with soldiers seen running from at least one just before the strike. Several explosions resembling the detonation of cluster munitions from Iskander missile warheads can be seen.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that up to 150 Ukrainian soldiers, including as many as 30 foreign instructors, were killed in the strike. However, there is no independent confirmation of these figures.

Ukrainian military drone specialist Serhii Beskrestnov (also known as “Flash”) commented on the incident in a Telegram post, saying that a Russian Orlan reconnaissance drone, which flew over the training ground before the strike, “did not prompt the responsible officials to take the necessary security measures.”

Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation announced that an investigation has been launched “into the deaths and injuries of Ukrainian servicemen as a result of the Russian missile strike on a training ground in Dnipropetrovsk region” under the charge of negligence in military service. Additionally, prosecutors told Suspilne that an investigation is also underway under the charge of encroachment on Ukraine’s territorial integrity and inviolability.