Ukrainian officials investigating killing of 19 troops at an awards ceremony

The Ukrainian government has launched a criminal investigation into military officers who arranged a ceremony to honor soldiers.The ceremony was attacked by a Russian missile, and 19 soldiers were killed. This was one of the worst attacks on Ukrainian forces.

The State Bureau of Investigation wants to make sure that military officials are held responsible for hosting an event near the front line in Zaporizhzhia, where Russian drones could see a lot of people gathered.

The violent event caused many Ukrainians to criticize it on social media. They wondered why it was planned so close to the fighting. President Zelenskyy felt very sad about the deaths of the men from the 128th Separate Mountain-Assault Brigade of Zakarpattia. He said it was a tragedy that didn’t need to happen.

The investigation announcement was made just before Ukraine’s top military leader, General. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, a very important assistant and good friend, said a Major. Gennady Chastyakov was killed by a bomb inside a birthday gift while he was with his family.

Zaluzhnyi wrote on his Telegram channel that he feels really sad about Chastyakov’s death and wants a legal investigation to find out how he died.

Before, the authorities said that Russian drone and missile attacks in Odesa injured eight people and caused damage to an art museum that is part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. Satellite photos also showed damage caused by a Ukrainian missile attack on a Russian naval ship.

The National Art Museum in Odesa said that seven art shows, mostly showing modern Ukrainian art, were harmed by a strike that made a big hole outside the museum. This happened during the museum’s 124th anniversary celebration.

Pictures and video showed broken windows, doors, and some paintings on the floor with a lot of mess in the galleries.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian missiles hit one of its ships at a shipyard in the city of Kerch.

The Associated Press looked at pictures taken by a satellite and found that a Russian navy ship near Kerch was damaged.

On Sunday, pictures from a satellite company called Planet Labs PBC showed a ship used for putting out fires, and booms in the water to contain oil spills from the damaged ship. You can see dark marks that look like burns on the boat, which is still floating. The marks could not be seen in other satellite pictures of the ship at the port.

The size and shape of the ship are similar to a Karakurt-class corvette. In Russian, “karakurt” is the name for a “Black Widow spider. ”

The ships are made to carry Kalibr cruise missiles, which Moscow has used many times against Ukraine since starting the war in February 2022.

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday night that Ukrainian forces shot 15 cruise missiles at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, hitting a ship and the shipyard.

Lieutenant General. Mykola Oleshchuk, the leader of Ukraine’s air force, said online that he thought the attack was aimed at a boat carrying Kalibrs. He also said that Kyiv used French missiles to attack from far away.

Andriy Ryzhenko, who is a captain in the Ukrainian naval reserve, said he thinks the boat hit by the missile was the Askold. The ship was being built at the port when the Russian President Putin visited in July 2020.

In 2014, Russia took control of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. Since then, it has been a common target because of the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin. Crimea was an important place for helping the invasion.

On Sunday and Monday, Russian shelling and airstrikes in southeastern Ukraine killed a 77-year-old man and injured at least 16 people, according to the country’s president.

The attacks in Odesa broke grain warehouses and houses too. A bomb exploded in front of the fine arts museum. The building and its art pieces were damaged, but no one has checked how bad it is yet, said a U. NThe cultural organization said.

UNESCO strongly criticized the attack on the museum, saying on Twitter that cultural sites should be protected by international law.

This was the second time the museum was hurt during the war. In July 2022, an explosion broke the old glass roof and windows of the museum.