- A Ukrainian HIMARS strike killed at least 60 Russian troops gathered in an open field, The BBC reported.
- The troops were waiting for a senior commander when the missile attack occurred.
- Russia has repeatedly flouted simple military operations to deadly effect.
A Ukrainian HIMARS strike wiped out at least 60 Russian troops who were gathered en masse in an open field this week as they flouted a key wartime rule that Russia has repeatedly ignored throughout the war, according to reports and video footage.
The Russian battalion congregated at a training area near the village of Trudovske in occupied eastern Ukraine when the two missiles struck, The BBC reported Wednesday.
Sources familiar with the incident told the outlet that the soldiers were gathered to await the arrival of a senior commander.
Alexander Osipov, the acting regional governor of nearby Transbaikalia, confirmed the strike in a Tuesday Telegram post, providing details about the missile attack and information for the soldiers’ family members.
Osipov identified the 36th motorized rifle brigade as the affected battalion, but said information about the death count and details had been “greatly exaggerated.”
Graphic video footage from the aftermath of the strike shared online by Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign-affairs correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, showed dozens of dead bodies in the open field.
Additional video footage and estimates made by soldiers who survived the strike suggest the death count is at least as high as 60, The BBC reported. Surviving troops also said in a video viewed by the outlet that their commanders had forced them to stand in the open field.
Reports cited by The BBC said the men were waiting for Major General Oleg Moiseyev, commander of the 29th Army of the Eastern military region.
The Ukrainian attack occurred just hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met to celebrate military victories in a televised appearance.
Ukraine has yet to comment on the strike, but the BBC reported a US-made HIMARS launch system was used to fire the two missiles.
This is far from the first time Russia has defied simple military operations to deadly result.
In August, Ukraine said it launched a HIMARS attack on five Russian units gathered on a beach that resulted in 200 casualties and destroyed equipment.
“Massing your troops within striking range of the Ukrainians is unwise,” Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy who is a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations, told Business Insider at the time.
Russia’s military leaders faced similar flack in June after reports that a large Russian force was struck at a position near the front. Some accounts at the time suggested the troops had been gathered to await a general’s pep talk before a dangerous mission.
Ukraine was criticized in November following a similar scenario in which 19 soldiers were killed by Russian missiles at an open-air awards ceremony near the frontline.
