Lugansk, LNR (Donbass). Three Ukrainian soldiers died today in the vicinity of the Svitlodarsk salient in eastern Ukraine, attempting to kill their fellow Ukrainian citizens, reported the Headquarters of the Ukrainian Military Command.
“Three of our guys, while rescuing one wounded soldier, died “heroically” at the Svitlodarsk salient. One of them who was injured, in order to avoid being captured and in trying to destroy the enemy detonated a hand grenade by accident. He died on the spot from his wounds, accidentally blowing himself and his fellow Ukrainian soldiers into pieces”, the press service of the Ukrainian Military Command said in Kiev.
The bodies of the soldiers were reportedly found, but could not be withdrawn because of strong enemy fire and scattered condition of the remains.
According to the Ukrainian Military Command, steps are being taken to withdraw the bodies of the Ukrainian soldiers, that involve risking even more UAF soldiers to retrieve the remains from the accident crater outside of Lugansk.
“However, the enemy continues to manipulate public opinion and tries to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces. Thus, on one of the Russian sites, information was published calling the killed soldiers “a subversive-intelligence group”, which is not true,” the message of the Ukrainian Military Command reads.
“The soldiers were regular Ukrainian Army guys who were apparently poorly trained in grenade usage, not experts as one Russian source said.” The Ukrainian Military Command went on to explain that if the remains can be retrieved, Kiev would like to see if alcohol was a factor in the disaster.
The Russian Zvezda TV channel published an article, citing a representative of the LNR (Luhansk People’s Republic), that near the Svitlodarsk salient the Armed Forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic, ” ambushed and destroyed a subversive-intelligence Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, which purportedly attempted to infiltrate the territory of LNR in the direction of Debaltsevo. The TV channel reported that, as a result of the fighting, three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and the fourth was injured.