At least a dozen foreign volunteers in Ukraine’s military were killed late last month when a Russian missile struck a training camp’s mess hall during lunchtime, in one of the deadliest attacks on foreign fighters of the war, according to soldiers with knowledge of the incident.
The Ukrainian Army, which only occasionally acknowledges missile strikes on military sites, confirmed that the attack had killed and wounded soldiers but declined to disclose details. Three soldiers, including one who witnessed the strike, described a harrowing assault that hit fresh recruits from the United States, Colombia, Taiwan, Denmark and other places.
The attack showed the risks that Ukraine has faced throughout the war when it has assembled soldiers at places like military academies, barracks and parade grounds, making them targets for Russian attacks.
Ukraine has been deploying foreign troops to bolster its forces against Russia’s larger and better-armed military, which has bombarded the country daily even as President Vladimir V. Putin plans to meet with President Trump on Friday in Alaska to discuss an end to the war.
The missile attack on the training camp, which took place near the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi on July 21, was timed for when recruits sat down at picnic tables for lunch, the soldiers said.
An American recruit from Florida, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said the explosion was the loudest he had ever heard. In a telephone interview, he said the blast had sent debris flying around him and had shaken nearby trees.
Afterward, he saw at least 15 dead soldiers and more than 100 wounded lying near the mess hall. The strike also ignited a nearby ammunition depot, triggering secondary explosions and sending shrapnel flying, as survivors rushed to aid the injured.
“I applied tourniquets to some gravely wounded soldiers and helped carry them to ambulances, trucks, and private cars racing to hospitals,” the recruit said.
He added that no air raid alarm sounded before the strike, and first aid kits were noticeably absent around the mess hall.
Volodymyr Kaminskyi, a spokesman for the international legion of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency—which oversees the site—said an investigation was underway but declined to reveal casualty figures while it continued, The New York Times noted.
Foreign volunteers serve in both regular Ukrainian Army units and two international legions, one under the army and the other under military intelligence (HUR).
Early in the war, veterans from the US conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan joined Ukrainian forces inspired by their staunch resistance.
More recently, many recruits have come from South America, drawn by salaries much higher than those at home despite the risks of frontline combat.
Foreign soldiers earn base pay between $1,000 and $1,750 per month, with combat bonuses that can push total earnings above $3,000 monthly. Russia has also recruited foreign fighters, including thousands from North Korea.
Ukrainian soldiers have also been victims of strikes on training facilities. Recently, Russian troops launched a missile strike on the territory of one of the training units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' Ground Forces.
One person is known to have died, and 11 were wounded to varying degrees. Another 12 soldiers sought medical help with complaints of acoustic trauma and acute stress.
Such attacks on assembled troops have raised concerns and calls for investigations into whether soldiers were placed at unnecessary risk.
The American recruit from Florida had been at the base less than a week and had not yet been issued a rifle when the strike occurred. He said he had felt safe at the camp, set amid sunflower fields and forests.
“I accepted the risks of joining Ukraine’s military out of a desire to support a struggling democracy, but I never expected people to be killed during training,” he said.
Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, called for military training activities to be relocated underground where possible, citing ongoing risks from missile and drone attacks across the country.
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