Russian missiles hit Ukrainian army training ground, killing at least three

A Russian missile has hit a Ukrainian army training ground, killing three soldiers and wounding 18 others, authorities said.

It is the latest attack to embarrass military officials as they struggle to make up a severe manpower shortage in the more than three-year war.

Russia’s Defence 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, killing or wounding about 200 troops.

Meanwhile, Moscow continued its stepped-up aerial campaign against Ukrainian civilian targets, launching 78 attack drones overnight, including up to eight newly developed jet-powered drones, Ukraine’s air force said on Wednesday. At least five people were wounded.

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

Since Moscow launched an all-out invasion of neighbouring Ukraine on February 24 2022, at least 13,580 Ukrainian civilians, including 716 children, have been killed, according to the UN.

In an effort to stop that, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he is giving Vladimir Putin until August 8 for peace efforts to make progress or Washington will impose punitive sanctions and tariffs. Western leaders have accused the Russian president of dragging his feet in US-led peace efforts in an attempt to capture more Ukrainian land.

Ukrainian forces are mostly hanging on against a grinding summer push by Russia’s bigger army, though the Russian Defence Ministry has claimed some recent small advances at places along the 620-mile front line.

Ukrainian ground forces acknowledged that a Russian strike hit a military training ground in the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, but its casualty report differed widely from the one issued by Moscow.

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 blasted a Ukrainian military academy and nearby hospital, killing more than 50 people and wounding over 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 three previous strikes killed at least 46 soldiers and wounded more than 160, according to official reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill on Tuesday that allows Ukrainian men over the age of 60 to voluntarily sign contracts with the armed forces. The law assists 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 it hoped would 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 those aged 25 to 60.

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