Zelenskyy slammed Ukrainian commanders for 'negligence' after Russian airstrike on an open-air ceremony left troops dead

• Ukrainian troops were hit by a Russian airstrike during an open-air award ceremony, according to reports.
• In a social media video, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused military commanders of "negligence."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed military commanders for "negligence" after Ukrainian soldiers died in a Russian airstrike late last week.

In a video published on social media X on Sunday, Zelenskyy said that an unspecified number of soldiers from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade were killed in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia oblast.

The troops were celebrating Artillery Day at an open-air award ceremony, per the Ukrainian outlet Ukrainska Pravda.

Nineteen soldiers died in the missile strike, the brigade said in a statement published on Facebook on Monday.

Zelenskyy accused Ukrainian commanders of "negligence" and of failing to take the necessary precautions that could have stopped such a "tragedy."

"It is a tragedy that could have been avoided," he said.

An unnamed military official told the New York Times that two missiles struck in succession on Friday morning in a village about 10 miles from the front lines.

Zelenskyy also said Ukraine's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, had launched a criminal investigation into the incident to find out the full circumstances and who issued what instructions.

"The investigation must provide honest answers to the families of the fallen soldiers and society about how this tragedy occurred and whether any improper orders were issued," he said.

The Ukrainian president went on to say that changes would be made to avoid all future "negligence."

Zelenskyy put the blame on what he called the "Soviet legacy" and Ukraine's "terrible bureaucracy," which he said is holding the army back from unleashing its full potential.

This is not the first time Zelenskyy has confronted Ukraine's military.

In January, the Ukrainian president fired at least nine senior officials, some of whom were accused of bribery and taking lavish vacations, the Telegram channel of Oleg Nemchinov, the secretary of the cabinet of ministers, said at the time.

And in August, Zelenskyy dismissed more than 30 military recruiters over accusations of taking bribes to help able-bodied men dodge the draft, BBC News reported at the time.

This latest airstrike echoes an attack on Russian soldiers earlier this year.

In June, it was reported that Russian soldiers stood out in the open for two hours for a commander's speech, leaving them sitting ducks for Ukrainian artillery.

Some reports put the number of Russian dead in that incident as high as 100, and the total casualties as high as 200, as Insider's Sam Fellman reported at the time.