On the front line of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers are ready to fire mortar shells as the Russian army continues to attack. (31 December 2022) |
Russia said Monday (Jan. 2) that 63 Russian servicemen died in a Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian military dormitory in the town of Makiivka, Russian-controlled Donetsk region, on New Year’s Eve.
As the Russian Defense Ministry unusually announced the death toll, Russia continued its heavy airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. However, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said all 40 drones attacking Kiev and its surroundings were shot down.
RUSSIA’S DEFENSE MINISTRY SAID UKRAINE FIRED SIX HIMARS ROCKETS, FOUR OF WHICH HIT THE SITE IN MAKIIVKA. Russia said it shot down two other rockets. “Hymas” is a “high-mobility multiple launch rocket system” with precision strike capabilities provided by the United States to the Ukrainian army.
The Ukrainian military did not directly confirm the attack, but acquiesced and claimed that the death toll of Russian troops was higher than reported by the Russian side.
About 400 Russian troops were killed in the building of a vocational school in Makiivka and more than 300 were wounded, the Main Directorate for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Sunday. The Russian statement said the attack took place “in the Makiivka Strip,” but did not mention the vocational school.
Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Russian official in the Moscow-controlled Donetsk region, said the building where Russian troops were housed had been hit “by a huge blow.”
“There were dead and wounded, the exact number is still unknown,” Bezonov said on Telegram, a messaging platform. “The building itself was badly damaged.”
Pro-Russian nationalist bloggers were outraged by such attacks and blamed military officials.
“What happened in Makiivka is terrible,” wrote Archangel Spetsnaz Z, a Russian military blogger with more than 700,000 followers on Telegram.
“Whose idea was it to gather large numbers of people in one building? Even fools understand that even if they are attacked by artillery, there will be many casualties?
The command of the Ukrainian army in the Udong region said that air defense systems destroyed nine Iranian-made drones launched by Russia at the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
But Yaroslav Yanushevich, the governor of the Unenan Kherson region, said on the Telegram platform that five people were wounded when a Ukrainian-controlled area in the Kherson region was shelled on Monday morning.
Mr. Yanushevich said the Russians attacked Berislav and opened fire on a market in the city, possibly by a tank. The official said three were seriously injured and were being transferred to the city of Kherson.
The attack on Kiev is the latest in a series of Russian airstrikes. Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24 last year, and now it is 2023, and the war is now in its 11th month. Moscow’s endless attacks appear to be aimed at breaking the morale of the Ukrainian people in a bitterly cold climate.
Kiev resident Sergei Kahalisky, right, stands outside his home destroyed by a Russian airstrike on January 2, 2023. His wife, Alina, died in that airstrike on December 31, 2022. (AP Photo) |
Mayor Klitschko said the falling debris injured one person in Kiev and cut off some electricity and heating.
Kiev said that at a time when Ukraine’s ability to defend its airspace is growing, wave after wave of Russian air strike attempts has shown Moscow’s desperation.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on the cable: “Now they are looking for ways to try to hit us with some means, however, their terrorist tactics will not succeed.” Our skies will become shields. ”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ukrainians for thanking the Ukrainian army and each other. He said Russian airstrikes would prove useless.
“Drones, missiles, all of that doesn’t help them,” he said of the Russians, “because we stand together.” They can only be united by fear.
(This article draws on reports from The Associated Press and Reuters.)
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