Soldiers of 128th Brigade were waiting for commander when Russian Iskander missile struck – source

Dmytro Lysiuk, the commander of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, was late for an event organised near the front line to mark Rocket Forces and Artillery Day. The soldiers waited for the brigade commander for more than half an hour, only to be hit by a missile strike that killed and wounded many of them.

Source: Hromadske, citing anonymous sources in the 128th Brigade

Details: One of Hromadske's sources notes that the award ceremony was originally scheduled for 09:00, but was postponed to 09:30. At that time, the soldiers were already lined up and waiting for their commander. The Russian attack took place at around 10:10.

The commander arrived literally two minutes after the strike.

The source noted that the Russians were watching the soldiers of the 128th Brigade from a drone, adjusting the missile strike. However, the occupiers made a mistake and hit a building behind the servicemen, closer to the road.

"And the result was that all those who were standing closer to the road, they are all Cargo 200 [killed – ed.]. And the personnel who were about to receive awards (artillery crew commanders, artillery forward observers and gunners) were somewhat covered by the wall of the house that was hit by the Iskander [missile]. There were slightly fewer casualties because of this," one of the sources says.

The source added that at the same time, many soldiers were injured by the debris.

Updated: According to Suspilne's source, Lysiuk is currently continuing to perform his duties as commander of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade.

The media outlet managed to reach him to ask who initiated the award ceremony. The brigadier reportedly replied that "this is information with limited access".

For reference: Media report that Lieutenant Colonel Lysiuk (then commander of the 8th Battalion of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade) was sentenced to a fine of UAH 119,000 (about US$3,000) for the illegal movement and sale of contraband cigarettes from the temporarily occupied territory of temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk Oblast in 2019.

At the same time, on Independence Day, Lysiuk was awarded the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi of Third Grade by the decree of the 5th president of Ukraine, President Petro Poroshenko, in 2017.

Background:

• Earlier, Ukrainska Pravda sources reported that Russia had struck a group of soldiers of the 128th Brigade in a frontline village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast at 10:00 on 3 November. It was reported that more than 20 soldiers may have been killed. The soldiers had apparently gathered in one place to be presented with awards to mark Artillery Day.
• On the evening of 4 November, Defence Minister Rustem Umierov instructed the Main Inspectorate of the Ministry of Defence to conduct a full investigation into the tragedy.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that this tragedy could have been prevented. He stressed that an investigation is underway to provide the families of the deceased soldiers and society with honest answers as to how the tragedy occurred and whose orders were wrong.
• On 6 November, the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade based in Zakarpattia Oblast confirmed the deaths of 19 soldiers from a Russian attack during celebrations near the frontline on 3 November.

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