- Elsa Maishman y Sam Hancock
- BBC News
image source, Telegram: Horevica / ZSU StratCom
Video of apparently the site of the attack was released by the Ukrainian military
Ukraine claims to have killed 400 Russian soldiers in a New Year’s Day missile strike in the occupied Donetsk region.
The missile hit a building in the city of Makiivka, where Russian forces are believed to have been stationed.
Russian officials have disputed the figure, admitting that only 63 of their soldiers were killed in the blast. None of the figures have been verified.
It is extremely rare for Moscow to confirm battlefield casualties.
But this was such a deadly attack, says BBC Russia editor Steve Rosenberg, that remaining silent was probably not an option.
It is the highest death toll recognized by Moscow. in a single incident since the war began ten months ago.
In a statement on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces fired six rockets using the US-made Himars system at a building housing Russian troops. Two of them were shot down, he added.
image source, Getty Images
Several Russian commentators and bloggers acknowledged the attack, but said the figures were lower than those given by Ukraine.
But Igor Girkin, a pro-Russian commentator, said hundreds had been killed and wounded, though the exact number was still unknown due to the large number of missing.
The building was “almost completely destroyed,” he said.
He added that the victims were mainly mobilized troopsmeaning recent recruits, rather than those who chose to fight, and said ammunition was stored in the same building as the soldiers, compounding the damage.
“Almost all the military equipment, which was right next to the building without any kind of disguise, was also destroyed,” he wrote on Telegram.
Girkin is a well-known military blogger who led Russian-backed separatists when they occupied much of eastern Ukraine in 2014. He was recently convicted of murder for his role in the downing of flight MH17.
Despite his pro-Russian stance, he regularly criticizes the Russian military leadership and its tactics.
According to the earlier statement of the Ukrainian army, 300 soldiers were wounded in addition to the dead, estimated at 400.
The Ukrainian military claims, almost daily, to have killed dozens, sometimes hundreds, of soldiers in attacks, so one must be cautious with these figures.
A later statement from the Ukrainian army’s general staff said that “up to 10 units of enemy military equipment” were “destroyed and damaged” in the attacks, and that “personnel losses of the occupiers are being specified.”
Ukraine has not confirmed that the attacks were carried out with Himars missiles, upholding a long-standing strategy of not disclosing specific details about its strikes.
Attacks against the Ukrainian capital
Hours after the Makiivka attack, Kyiv was targeted by a drone and missiles targeting critical infrastructure, the Ukrainian capital’s regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said.
image source, Andriy Nebytov, Kyiv Oblast Police Chief
Ukrainian authorities showed an image of a Russian-launched drone that reads, in Russian, “Happy New Year.”
A man in Kyiv was injured by debris from a destroyed Russian drone, the capital’s mayor added.
Kuleba said the weapons were Iranian-made Shahed drones, adding that they were “targeting critical infrastructure facilities.”
“The main thing now is to stay calm and stay in the shelters until the alarm ends,” he said.
Ukraine eventually shot down all 39 Iranian-made drones, the military said, but Kyiv mayor Vitaly Klitschko said power facilities were damaged, disrupting power and heating supplies.
Russia has been attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for several months, destroying power plants and plunging millions into darkness during the country’s freezing winter.
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