Russian actress is killed in Ukrainian air strike while performing for Putin’s troops – 25 of whom also die in attack

• Russia said a civilian died after Ukraine ‘fired five projectiles at the village’
• Ukraine claims at least 25 died and 100 were injured in the revenge strike 

A Russian actress was killed in a Ukrainian airstrike while performing for Putin’s troops in the occupied Donetsk region.

Polina Menshikh, 40, died in the attack along with at least 25 marines during a concert marking Russia’s annual Day of Missile Forces and Artillery on Sunday, reports say.

Video caught the moment a Ukrainian HIMARS strike struck a concert hall in the village of Kumachovo, some 37 miles from the frontline, leaving 100 wounded.

In the clip, Menshikh is seen playing the guitar and singing for Russian soldiers when the room starts to shake. All of a sudden, the video blacks out. 

The Russian Investigative Committee announced a criminal probe into the attack which they acknowledged ‘killed a civilian’. The Ukrainian military called it a ‘reckoning blow’.

Russia immediately covered up with a news blackout on the troop losses from the HIMARS strike, reports claim. 

Polina Menshikh, 40, died in the attack on the village of Kumachovo in Donetsk, Ukraine

The actress was reportedly performing during celebrations of a Russian military holiday

Ukraine claimed responsibility for the ‘revenge’ attacks on a building in occupied Donetsk

Russian News Agency TASS reported the casualties on Sunday without commenting on troop losses.

A report read: ‘A woman died in the village of Kumachovo in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops, the DPR’s mission to the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) for issues related to Ukraine’s war crimes said on Sunday.

‘”According to reports about casualties as of 9:30 p.m. Moscow time (6:30 p.m. GMT), a woman was killed in the village of Kumachovo,” it said, adding that Ukrainian troops fired five projectiles from multiple launch rocket systems at the village.’

Ukraine acknowledged the attack as revenge for a devastating Russian strike on an awards ceremony in Ukraine earlier this month.

Commander of Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance unit Birds of Magyar, Robert Brovdi, said that Kyiv’s forces had attacked the 810th separate brigade of the Russian Marines in ‘revenge for the 128th Brigade’.

He referred to the November 4 strike by Russia on an awards ceremony near the frontline on Ukraine’s Artillery Forces Day in which at least 20 soldiers from the 128th were killed and many wounded by a Kh-59 hit.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky branded it ‘a tragedy that could have been avoided’, and a criminal investigation was launched.

He claimed at least 25 Russian marines had been killed and more than 100 wounded in the retaliatory attack on Sunday. 

The losses of the command personnel were classified by a Russian military commission that arrived at the scene, he said.

Obituaries would soon appear in Sevastopol, he said, where the Russian 810th are based.

Portal, a St Petersburg-based theatre studio also said that an upcoming performance of a play she previously directed would be dedicated to her memory. 

Image shows the aftermath of damage after Ukrainian strikes on a building in Kumachovo

Robert Brovdi, said that Kyiv’s forces had attacked the 810th separate brigade of the Russian Marines in ‘revenge for the 128th Brigade’

Russia confirmed a civilian had been killed in the strike without naming Menshikh (pictured)

A theatre studio based in St Petersburg associated with Menshikh said an upcoming performance of a play she previously directed would be dedicated to her memory

Russian war bloggers erupted with anger at news of the strike in Kumachovo.

Putin-loyal Telegram Channel Military Informant hit out at the ‘untaught idiots’ amount Russia’s commanders who did not expect the Ukraine’s to seek revenge as its troops marked their Artillery Forces Day.

‘The building where the show event was held was located only 60 kilometres [37 miles] from the frontline.

‘The result is predictable – the enemy struck with HIMARS, including Russian actress Polina Menshikh, who was performing at that moment, who died.

‘Almost two years of war, and the untaught idiots still do not know what to do and what not to do.’

The channel denounced the decision to organise a concert for military personnel so close to the frontline.

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