The frontline region’s acting governor left Kiev’s troops open to attack, Artyom Semenikhin has alleged

Konotop Mayor Artyom Semenikhin is holding Vladimir Artyukh, the head of his region’s military administration,  responsible for a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers in the border city of Sumy which became the target of a reported Russian cruise missile strike on Sunday.

Sumy, Ukraine is a frontline city of over 250,000 people just 15 miles (25 kilometers) away from the border with Russia's Kursk Region, which has seen extensive fighting amid the failure of Kiev’s incursion. According to local authorities, the strike left over 20 dead and more than 80 wounded.

In a Facebook stream on Sunday, Semenikhin, a member of the far-right party Svoboda and mayor of the nearby town of Konotop, accused Artyukh of being complicit in the death of Ukrainians killed in the attack.

“He organized an award ceremony for the soldiers of the 117th brigade in that building. He was warned that this should not be done,” Semenikhin said, adding that he’s risking a lot by raising the issue.

Read more

He claimed that none of the soldiers were injured and that the strike only hit civilians who were near the award ceremony at the time.

”Thanks to our long-standing governor Artyukh, we now have victims,” Semenikhin said.

He added that local authorities have begun criminal investigations into who organized the military ceremony, as well as into the strike itself.

”I have no doubt that Mr. Artyukh... will receive an appropriate response from the law enforcement system, law enforcement agencies, and prosecution will begin against him,” Semenikhin said.

Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on reports that a gathering of soldiers was hit.

Earlier in the day, a former member of Vladimir Zelensky’s political party, Ukrainian lawmaker Mariana Bezuglaya, demanded that officers stop staging troop gatherings, warning that the practice makes service members targets for Russian strikes.

“Do not do roll calls. Do not stage award ceremonies,” she urged Kiev’s military.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the strike as of Sunday evening.