Russia says 63 soldiers killed by Ukrainian strike in Donetsk region

Russia said on Monday that 63 Russian soldiers had been killed in a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve attack on their quarters, triggering furious criticism of the military leadership from lawmakers and pro-war bloggers.

Footage posted online showed a building purported to be a vocational college in Makiivka, a city in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine’s Donetsk province, reduced to rubble.

Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Russian-backed regional official, said the college had been hit by U.S.-made HIMARS rockets around midnight, just as people would have been celebrating the start of the New Year against the backdrop of a televised speech by President Vladimir Putin.

Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged the attack only in the final paragraph of a 528-word daily roundup, more than 36 hours later.

Even then, it did not address some of the allegations made by pro-war bloggers, who said casualties were far higher, and that the military had not only failed to hide its soldiers from the enemy but also stored ammunition close by.

via Reuters

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