Oleg Davygora22:41, 05.11.25

Journalists managed to speak with a soldier who also attended the award ceremony on that tragic day.

On the evening of November 1, the Russian army launched a missile and drone attack on a village in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Among the dead and wounded were soldiers from the 35th Marine Brigade, who had arrived there for an awards ceremony. This was reported to Suspilny by relatives of the dead and wounded.

Journalists managed to speak with a soldier who also attended the award ceremony on that tragic day.

“It was the battalion’s anniversary, and there was supposed to be a ceremonial awards ceremony with bonfires and torches. They sent us two locations to go to… The alarm had been going on for a while. We drove there without a GPS because it simply wasn’t working due to the alarm. The weather was overcast, and there were no drones or wings hovering overhead. Most likely, one of our own leaked us. They knew these two locations and struck 15 minutes after the awards ceremony was supposed to begin,” he said.

According to him, when they arrived in the forest, the commander told them to wait.

“We were standing about 100 meters from the flares. About 15 minutes later, an Iskander landed at that spot. We didn’t really hear anything—there was an explosion, and we were hit. One guy standing next to us got his leg cut up, another got his shoulders. But we were just lucky we were waiting and not standing where the awards ceremony was supposed to take place. There were 200 of us there. I can’t say how many exactly, but three people for sure. Their bodies weren’t found that night; they lay there until morning. If we had all been standing there, we would have all been killed,” the defense attorney said.

He claims that more “Shaheds” arrived later.

“When we were already driving out of the forest, we saw something burning in the village itself. One of the soldiers wrote to the group: ‘Call an ambulance to the village.’ There were wounded there. He himself was seriously wounded and later died in the hospital,” the man said.

According to him, doctors said there were eight to 200, forty wounded, six missing among the military:

“Why did I agree to talk to journalists? Because people need to know the truth. I’m simply putting myself in the shoes of my comrades’ wives, my wife. Or putting myself in the shoes of the fallen soldiers. Their families know nothing at all. They’re not being told anything. Because it’s simply negligence on the part of the command. Because the alarm was already sounded. And everyone within ten kilometers needed to leave. So that no one would be left there.”

A blow to the Marines’ awards

The “East” military grouping has released information that as a result of the enemy’s combined attack, there are casualties and injuries among Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

TSN journalist Dmitry Svyatnenko reported that the best soldiers were gathered on the parade ground for an awards ceremony. It was in an open area. Ballistic missiles landed. Among the dead was his brother, who had served on the battlefield.

The State Bureau of Investigation has launched a pre-trial investigation into the deaths and injuries of Ukrainian service members as a result of a Russian missile strike in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

(C)UNIAN 2025