With flowers and prayers, the Russians staged several rallies on Tuesday to pay tribute to dozens of soldiers killed in an attack in eastern Ukraine, a fact that shocked Russia and triggered a wave of criticism of its army.
Some 200 people participated in a tribute in the city of Samara (center), where some of the deceased soldiers were from. Several people laid roses or wreaths before a flame in one of the main squares of the city, bowing respectfully or making the sign of the cross.
In an unusual development in Russia, where authorities are tightly silent regarding military casualties in Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said Monday that 63 soldiers were killed by a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve attack on a building where they were stationed in Makéyevka. , a Russian-occupied city in the Donetsk region, which Moscow claims to have annexed.
The kyiv government claims the number of victims is much higher.
