“I have decided to resign from the position of commander of the ground forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” announced Mykhailo Drapatyi in an emotional message posted on Telegram on Sunday, June 1. The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces said he felt a “personal sense of responsibility” for the deaths of at least 12 Ukrainian soldiers on Sunday in a Russian bombing raid on a training ground.
The Ukrainian army had earlier reported that 12 soldiers were killed and more than 60 wounded in a Russian missile strike on the site where they were training. Several deadly attacks of this kind have occurred in recent months.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Moscow’s forces have repeatedly targeted locations where Ukrainian soldiers gather, sometimes far from the front line. These attacks have drawn criticism in Ukraine, with political leaders accusing the military command of creating easy targets and endangering soldiers by grouping them together.
On Sunday, Mykhailo Drapatyi said he had tried to “change the attitude” of his officers. “The culture of secrecy and impunity is a poison for the army,” he criticized, claiming he had tried to “eradicate” them. “But if these tragedies are still happening, it means that my efforts have not been enough,” he added.
Internal investigation
The army specified that there had been “no meeting or mass gathering” at the location targeted. The “majority” of soldiers also went to an air raid shelter after the alert warning of an incoming attack was triggered, the army stated.
An internal investigation would be conducted to determine the circumstances of the strike, it added. “If it turns out that the deaths and injuries of the soldiers were the result of actions or inaction by those responsible, the culprits will be severely punished,” the army said.
At the end of May, six Ukrainian soldiers were killed and more than 10 wounded by a Russian strike on a training ground in the Sumy region, which borders Russia.
In March, a Russian attack on a military training ground killed numerous soldiers more than 100 kilometers from the front line. The army did not provide a precise casualty count. At the time, the commander of the Ukrainian ground forces Drapatyi had criticized military leaders who “carry out their duties negligently.” In September 2024, a Russian airstrike on a military institute in Poltava, a city in central Ukraine, also killed nearly 60 people and wounded more than 300.
