Three Ukrainian soldiers killed in Russian strike on army centre

At least three soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded after Russian missiles hit a Ukrainian army training ground, authorities said on Wednesday, in strikes targeting Kyiv’s efforts to make up for a severe manpower shortage in more than three years of war.

The Russian Defence Ministry said the strike killed or wounded about 200 Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian ground forces acknowledged the Russian strike on the military training ground, but its casualty report differed widely from Moscow’s.

The ministry said Ukraine’s 169th training centre near Honcharivske in the Chernihiv region was hit with two Iskander missiles, one armed with multiple submunitions and another with high explosives.

A Russian Defence Ministry video showed multiple small explosions apparently caused by a missile with a shrapnel warhead, followed by one big blast, apparently from the other one armed with a high-explosive warhead.

A similar Russian strike occurred last September, when two ballistic missiles hit a Ukrainian military academy and nearby hospital, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others.

Ukrainian authorities said a commission led by the head of the Military Law Enforcement Service has been formed to determine whether negligence or misconduct by officials contributed to the casualties in Chernihiv.

The attack was the fourth deadly strike in five months on Ukrainian military facilities. The previous three killed at least 46 soldiers and wounded more than 160, according to official reports.

Russia also has been trying disrupt Ukrainian military recruitment by hitting regional buildings coordinating the call-up.

On Wednesday, Russian forces targeted a regional military administration building in the northern Sumy region, injuring a 75-year-old woman, the administration said. It said they struck the same building with drones last Friday and Saturday.

Ukrainian forces are mostly hanging on against a grinding summer push by Russia’s bigger army, though the Russian Defence Ministry has claimed recent small advances along the 1,000-kilometre frontline.

Ukraine badly needs more troops

Though Ukraine has more than 1 million people in uniform, including the National Guard and other units, it badly needs more.

There have been questions about how Kyiv is managing the war, from a flawed mobilisation drive to the overstretching and hollowing-out of front-line units through soldiers going AWOL.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a bill Tuesday that allows Ukrainian men over the age of 60 to voluntarily sign contracts with the armed forces.

The law allows those who want to contribute their experience and skills, particularly in non-combat or specialised roles.

In February, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry began offering new financial and other benefits that it hopes will attract men between the ages of 18 and 24 to military service.

Men in that age group are exempt from the country’s draft, which covers men between 25 and 60 years old.

Ukraine has lowered its conscription age from 27 to 25, but that has failed to replenish ranks or replace battlefield losses.

More civilians are being killed

Meanwhile, Russia continued its stepped-up aerial campaign against Ukrainian civilian targets, launching 78 attack drones overnight into Wednesday, including up to eight newly-developed jet-powered drones, Ukraine’s air force said.

At least five people were wounded.

The UN mission in Ukraine notes a worsening trend in civilian casualties from Russian attacks this year, with 6,754 civilians killed or injured in the first half of 2025, a 54% increase from the same period in 2024.

Since Russia launched an all-out invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022, at least 13,580 Ukrainian civilians, including 716 children, have been killed, according to the UN.

Additional sources • AP