Dozens Killed in Iskander Missile Strike on Ukrainian Training Camp: New Tactics Increase Lethality

<p >A Russian Ground Forces Iskander-M ballistic missile unit was reported to have caused several dozen casualties during a strike on a Ukrainian Army training camp in the disputed Sumy region, killing up to 70 personnel. Commenting on the incident, the Russian Defence Ministry reported: "As a result of the reconnaissance activities of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, a training camp of the 1st separate special forces brigade of the armed forces of Ukraine was discovered in the area of the settlement of Shostka, Sumy Region. The coordinates of the target were transferred to the calculations of the Iskander missile defence system, which launched a missile strike. As a result of the strike, up to 70 Ukrainian servicepeople were killed, including 20 instructors. An ammunition depot and up to 10 pieces of automotive equipment were also destroyed.” Russia’s much larger supplies of tactical ballistic missiles had provided it with a major advantage since the outbreak of full scale hostilities with Ukraine in February 2022, with the intensity of strikes using the Iskander-M system having grown significantly from 2023 as industry was able to significantly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-iskander-multiple-prewar-production" >expand production</a> of 9K720 ballistic missiles. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/21/article_682de5968dc844_08700662.png" title="Explosion as Iskander-M Strike Kills Around 50 Western Foreign Fighters in July 2024"></p><p >Increased supplies of missiles for Iskander-M systems has allowed Russian units to implement new tactics, with the most prominent being the reported use from November 2023 of <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-debuts-double-strike-iskande" >‘double strike’ tactics</a>. These involved the launches of multiple missiles at a designated target, with subsequent followup strikes executed at calculated intervals to catch Ukrainian forces off guard and maximise casualties after Ukrainian personnel congregate at a point of impact. An example of the use of such tactics was the ‘double strike’ on a Ukrainian train in the village of Budy in the disputed Kharkiv region, destroying several railway cars and nearby infrastructure. A pause after the first strike allowed personnel from the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service to move into the area to assess the damage, after which a second ballistic missile was launched, killing the head of the Kharkov district department of the State Emergency Service among others.</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/05/21/article_682de80ea2bf92_02368218.png" title="Ukrainian Patriot System Milliseconds Before Iskander Strike "></p><p > </p><p >Beyond attacks on personnel concentrations, Iskander-M systems have gained particular prominence for their<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/footage-iskander-ukraine-patriot" > successful use</a> in <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukrainian-patriot-losses-iskander" >air defence suppression operations</a> against Ukrainian Patriot missile systems, among other surface to air missile assets, allowing them to serve as force multipliers that significantly <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-a2s-thin-loss-patriot-s300" >increase the vulnerability</a> of nearby Ukrainian forces. The systems have also played an important role in efforts by the Russian Defence Ministry to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-personnel-ukraine-strikes" >single out </a>Western active duty personnel and contractors for targeting. The Iskander-M stands out from most competing systems for its missiles use of semi-ballistic depressed trajectories, and their ability to conduct extensive in flight manoeuvres throughout their flight paths. This makes their missiles extremely difficult to detect or track, while also allowing them to use their fins to manoeuvre much better than would be possible on standard ballistic trajectories. Russia’s arsenal of Iskander-M systems has been supplemented from 2024 by supplies of North Korean KN-23 systems which have many similar characteristics, and are thought to have been developed in the 2010s with help from Russian technology transfers. </p>