Russian Strike On Ukrainian Training Ground Results In Mass Casualties

Despite ongoing US-backed efforts to get Russians and Ukrainians to the negotiating table again, days after last week’s Istanbul talks, both warring sides have on Wednesday ramped up tit-for-tat assaults on each other’s territory.

Ukrainian drones have once again threatened the Moscow region, leading to the capital’s four airports temporarily suspending nearly all flights for a period on Wednesday.

Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports halted inbound and outbound flights, and Sheremetyevo suspended arrivals, the country’s Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed, after air defense missile systems downed three inbound drones on Moscow.

“Emergency services are working at the crash sites,” an official Moscow city statement said. The Defense Ministry had earlier in the day said it destroyed 159 Ukrainian inbound drones overnight. Drones threatened several regions across southern Russia, as well as at least 40 UAVs spotted over Crimea.

Ukraine on Wednesday announced that six of its servicemen were killed, and at least ten more were wounded when a missile attack struck a training camp in northeast Ukraine’s Sumy region the day prior.

However, Russia’s defense ministry said the death toll was much higher, according to its intelligence estimates. It indicated the missile attack “killed up to 70 Ukrainian service members, including 20 instructors.”

Like many other such mass casualty events of late, it will likely be impossible to confirm which said has the accurate casualty numbers, given ‘fog of war’ and lack of journalistic access on the ground to many of these sites.

The location was reportedly a shooting range, according to Ukraine’s national guard, which further said the commander of the unit had been suspended. The strike happened during the light of day.

Ukraine’s military leadership has in some regions had a ban in place of large gatherings of troops or training which takes place out in the open, given the ever-present danger of missile and drone attacks from Russia. Reuters notes that “During more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Moscow’s forces have inflicted casualties in attacks on Ukrainian military educational institutions and various formal outdoor gatherings.

This large-scale attack on the training ground comes at a time of increased domestic division and infighting within Ukraine, including apparently within the military command.

For example, one high-ranking commander has within the past week reportedly resigned in disgust:

Oleksandr Shyrshyn, battalion commander of the 47 Separate Mechanized Brigade, has submitted his resignation, sharply criticizing Ukraine’s military leadership for what he described as senseless orders and unnecessary casualties.

“I have never received more stupid objectives than in the current direction,” Shyrshyn wrote in a blunt Facebook post announcing his decision on May 16. “Someday I will tell you the details, but the stupid loss of people, trembling in front of a stupid generals, leads to nothing but failures.”

“I hope your children will also serve in the infantry and carry out your orders,” he added.

Russia’s MoD released a grim video which strongly suggests true casualty numbers are actually very high after the attack:

Media disseminate a video of an alleged Iskander missile strike on a Ukrainian military training ground in the Sumy region. They report the deaths of approximately 70 soldiers.

This incident once again undermines trust in Ukraine’s military command, which not only organized… pic.twitter.com/9NllPV79Wi

— Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta) May 21, 2025

This is probably why Kiev authorities are taking such pains to investigate the Sumy training ground attack. The Zelensky government is trying to assure the population that it’s war policy is not “senseless” – also at a time recruiters continue brutally rounding up fresh recruits, in some instances from off the streets or from inside cafes and restaurants.

This war of attrition is becoming increasingly unpopular among Ukrainians, and is certainly being met with ‘war weariness’ among Western populations, whose tax dollars have been propping up the Ukrainian war machine. This is also why President Trump has been urging both sides to end the “bloodbath” and senseless killing.