At least 63 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian attack on Makiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Monday, with Ukrainian authorities citing a much higher death toll. Since the start of its military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian military, which speaks very little about the number of dead and wounded in its ranks, has never reported such heavy losses suffered in a single attack.
According to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, who did not give a date, “four missiles” hit “a temporary deployment center” of the Russian army in Makiivka, a Russian-occupied city east of Donetsk. The Russian ministry specifies that it is an attack by a HIMARS multiple rocket launcher, a weapon delivered to Kyiv by the United States, and claims to have shot down two of the six missiles fired at this target in Makivka. “The families and relatives of the dead soldiers will have all the necessary help and support,” said the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry.
Recently mobilized reservists
On Sunday, Russian and Ukrainian media began reporting on the attack on Makiivka, claiming that it had taken place on the night of Saturday to Sunday, at the time of the transition to the new year, and that a building where there were reservists was recently mobilized. . in Russia had been affected.
This shelling was possible due to the “extensive use by the recently arrived soldiers of their mobile phones”, which would have allowed their geolocation by the Ukrainian army, an anonymous source within the Donetsk separatist authorities explained on Monday to the Russian state news agency. TASS.
Several war correspondents who supported the offensive launched by Russia criticized the Russian military command on Telegram, saying that the soldiers on the scene should have had their phones taken away and not be concentrated in one building.
Source: BFM TV
