Commander of Ukraine's 128th brigade suspended pending investigation - president

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this in his nightly video address, Ukrinform reports.

"I held a meeting of the Staff. The first issue was related to the tragedy with the servicemen of our 128th separate mountain assault brigade," he said.

Zelensky noted that military personnel, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Maliuk and Ministry of Defense inspector Ihor Voronchenko had delivered reports at the meeting on "what has already been figured out about the circumstances of the tragedy, whose orders entailed the tragedy."

"The brigade commander has been suspended for the time of investigation," he said.

He also noted that the whole situation is being analyzed minute by minute. "And it will be found out who exactly violated the rules on the safety of people in the area accessible to enemy aerial reconnaissance," he said.

"There will be no avoidance of responsibility," Zelensky said.

Earlier reports said that 19 soldiers of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade had been killed and dozens wounded in a Russian missile strike on a village in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.