Drapatyi resigned over Russian strike on training ground with soldiers: "It is my responsibility"
Land Forces Commander Mykhailo Drapatyi stated that he had submitted his resignation after the shelling of the training ground on 1 June.
He posted this on his Facebook page, Censor.NET reports.
"I have decided to submit my resignation from the post of Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is a deliberate step dictated by my personal sense of responsibility for the tragedy at the 239th training ground that killed our soldiers," he said.
He explains that he failed to ensure that his own orders were carried out: "I didn't push, didn't convince, didn't change the attitude to the person in the line. This is my responsibility".
"12 dead. There are wounded. These are young guys from the training battalion. Most of them were in shelters. They were supposed to study, live, fight - not die. My deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to all those who were injured," said Drapatyi.
According to him, the behaviour of the soldiers matters, but the main responsibility always lies with the command.
"It is the commanders who determine the rules, make decisions and are responsible for the consequences. Mutual responsibility and impunity are poison for the army. I tried to eradicate it from the Land Forces. But if tragedies happen again, it means that my efforts were not enough.
We have no right to live in a system that does not learn. If we don't draw conclusions, change our attitude to service, and admit our mistakes, we are doomed. Without personal responsibility, there is no development. Without development, there is no victory," the statement said.
"An army in which commanders are personally responsible for people's lives lives. An army where no one is responsible for a loss is dying from within," he added.
Drapatyi also initiated a review of all the circumstances of the tragedy: the actions of commanders, the condition of shelters and the effectiveness of warning systems, "but no review will bring back those we lost."
"We will not win this war if we do not build an army where honour is not a word, but an action. Where responsibility is not a punishment but a basis of trust. Where every commander is responsible every day - for an order, for a decision, for a person," he summed up.
Earlier, Censor.NET reported that 12 soldiers were killed and more than 60 wounded in an enemy missile attack on the location of a training unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to Land Forces spokesman Vitaliy Sarantsev, the attack was carried out with an Iskander missile. The attacked training unit is located in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
