Ukraine hits Russian army training ground in occupied territory, reportedly killing over 60 soldiers waiting for general

Ukraine’s Armed Forces (AFU) struck a Russian army training ground near the village of Trudivske in the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People's Republic” (“DNR”) on Tuesday, report BBC News Russian journalist Ilya Barabanov, Ukrainian journalist Denys Kazanskyi, and “DNR” soldier and blogger Yegor Guzenko.

According to various estimates, at least 60 people could have been killed as a result of the strike, wrote BBC News Russian. Guzenko reported that 65 people were killed.

Sources told BBC News Russian that the Ukrainian army used HIMARS rocket launchers to carry out the attack. Soldiers from Russia’s 36th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade were on the training ground at the time, reported Barabanov and Guzenko.

According to BBC News Russia, three companies from the brigade (around 200-300 people) were waiting for General Oleg Moiseev, the commander of the 29th Army of the Eastern Military District. Guzenko corroborated that the soldiers were waiting for the general. Russian war blogger Roman Saponkov wrote that the “senior commander” never arrived.

Numerous photographs and videos circulating online, purportedly taken at the training ground after the strike, show dozens of dead individuals in military uniforms. The images have not been verified.

The Russian Defense Ministry and the AFU General Staff have not yet commented on the incident.