Ukraine kills 24 Russian kamikaze drone pilots with US-made HIMARS missile in ‘doomsday’ strike on Putin’s forces
A UKRAINIAN missile strike killed 24 Russian kamikaze drone operators in a major blow to Vladimir Putin.
Dramatic aerial footage shows flames and thick black smoke coming from the site moments after the attack.
The drone operators and trainers were hit with a HIMARS missile in a deadly strike.
The attack happened on Wednesday but the footage has only now been released.
Russian sources have expressed fury at the “negligence” which allowed Kyiv to know about the gathering at Vostochny military training ground near Ilovaisk in occupied Donetsk region.
“At 14.40, this concentration of military personnel and vehicles was hit by a HIMARS rocket system,” reported Russian Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.
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“The strike instantly killed 22 soldiers.
“They were immediately discovered, and the bodies of two more were found later.
“Three Russian servicemen with mine explosion wounds were hospitalised.”
Two UAZ Patriot military SUVs were destroyed along with a UAZ 452 van and a Ford Transit.
The military personnel were undergoing an “exam” in kamikaze drone flying before being deployed to fly UAVs to Ukrainian targets.
Russian pro-war military blogger Vladimir Romanov expressed fury at the strike.
He blamed a security lapse which the organiser of the training session gave out the location online on a bot that could be openly accessed.
Blaming commanders, he said: "We have been fighting for almost two years, but there is no increase in brainpower.”
He demanded: “I would like to know…who is to blame for the fact that [map] coordinates were given to almost anyone who wanted them?
“Who is to blame for the fact that the exam took place several times at the same point?
“Who will bear responsibility for the negligence? What conclusions will be drawn from this tragedy?”
There have been no official Russian statements on the strike.
But Romanov said the Russian military had “acknowledged that a tragedy occurred, and are grieving and apologising to family members”.
Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko released footage of the attack, commenting: “HIMARS arranged a ‘doomsday’ for the Russians near occupied Ilovaisk.”
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Last week, Ukrainian kamikaze drone strikes saw a major missile factory and gas plant engulfed in flames.
Two huge explosions erupted at the strategically-important Novatek plant near St Petersburg, triggering a raging inferno.