The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is also taking place in the information field. Moscow said on Sunday it had killed “more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers” after carrying out attacks on military headquarters in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine.
Moscow spoke of a “retaliatory attack” on the Ukrainian bombing that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers on January 1. But the veracity of the Ukrainian losses claimed by Moscow raises questions.
Strikes heard by Kramatorsk residents
Broken windows and craters are clearly visible in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian military says it carried out its missile attacks, BFMTV saw on the scene.
Vasyle, a resident of the city, confirms to our camera that he heard blows on the night from Saturday to Sunday.
“There were loud explosions at night, the windows were shaking,” he testifies.
Local Ukrainian authorities confirm for their part that seven rockets fell on Kramatorsk. Two other rockets targeted the nearby town of Kostiantynivka.
This damage, however, appears to be a far cry from what Russia claims. “In response to the criminal attack by the kyiv regime in the first minutes of January 2023 (…), Russian forces carried out a retaliatory operation. More than 600 Ukrainian soldiers were killed,” the ministry spokesman said on Sunday. of Russian Defense. .
no trace of victims
At the scene, no trace of victims. It is impossible to confirm that the military headquarters that Moscow claims to have attacked are military installations. The inhabitants of Kramatorsk crossed by our team do not seem concerned or disturbed by these attacks either.
“There was a series of explosions,” admits one of them, named Mykhaïlo. “There’s really nothing more to say, just a normal day,” he adds, however.
Ukraine rejects Russian claims
After Russia claimed on Sunday that it had killed several hundred Ukrainian soldiers, a Ukrainian military official denied “retaliatory strikes.”
Kyiv claims that no casualties were reported in the shooting that reached Kramatorsk and that no military barracks were hit by a Russian attack in this city.
“Russian troops do not have the ability to launch high-precision strikes,” a spokesman for the Ukrainian army’s eastern command, Serguii Tcherevaty, told Suspilne media.
He denounces a simple Russian “communication operation” aimed at reassuring its population and responding to criticism.
“A Battle of Press Releases”
“We are in a battle of press releases,” General Vincent Desportes, former director of the War College and strategy professor at Sciences Po and HEC, analyzes for BFMTV. “The basis, in a war, is that all communication is political. We know that the first casualty of the war is the truth, ”he develops.
Extremely rare, Russia has admitted to suffering significant losses against Ukrainian troops and losing 89 soldiers in an attack on January 1. However, according to international journalists and the Ukrainian authorities, this figure is underestimated. For their part, several hundred deaths are reported.
Source: BFM TV
