Russia acknowledged on Monday that dozens of its soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest attacks of the war in Ukraine, prompting calls from nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers next to an arsenal.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 63 soldiers had died in the explosion that destroyed a makeshift barracks at a former vocational school in Makiivka, the twin city of Donetsk, the Russian-occupied regional capital.
The Russian government said that the barracks had been hit by four rockets fired from US-made HIMARS launchers, and claimed that two rockets had been shot down. kyiv claimed the Russian death toll was in the hundreds, but pro-Russian officials said that was an exaggeration.
Russian military bloggers, many with hundreds of thousands of followers, claimed that the massive destruction was due to ammunition being stored in the same building as a barracks, even though commanders knew it was within Ukrainian rocket range.
On the other hand, Ukraine declared on Monday that it had shot down all 39 drones launched by Russia. in a third straight night of airstrikes against civilian targets in kyiv and other cities.
Ukrainian officials said their success demonstrated that Russia’s tactic of recent months of launching airstrikes to bring down Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was increasingly failing as kyiv beefs up its air defenses.
EACH ERROR HAS A NAME
Unverified footage posted online in the aftermath of the attack on the Russian Makiivka headquarters showed a massive building reduced to smoking rubble.
Igor Girkin, a former commander of the pro-Russian troops in eastern Ukraine who has become one of the most high-profile Russian nationalist military bloggers, said the death toll was in the hundreds, later modifying his message to include the wounded in that figure.
Ammunition had been stored at the site and the Russian military equipment was not camouflaged, Girkin added.
Another nationalist blogger, Rybar, posted that some 70 soldiers had been confirmed dead and more than 100 wounded.
“What happened in Makiivka is horrible,” he wrote. Archangel Spetznaz Z, another Russian military blogger with more than 700,000 followers on Telegram.
“Who came up with the idea of placing so many staff in one building, where even a fool understands that, even if they shoot with artillery, there will be many wounded or killed?” he wrote. “Every mistake has a name.”
Russia’s acknowledgment of dozens of deaths in one incident is almost unprecedented. Moscow rarely publishes figures on its casualties, and when it does they are usually few: it acknowledged only one death among a crew of hundreds when Ukraine sank its flagship cruiser Moskva in April.
Russia has entered the new year by attacking Ukrainian cities, including kyiv, hundreds of kilometers from the front lines at night, in a change of tactics, after months in which it used to space the volleys about a week apart.
After firing dozens of missiles on December 31, Russia launched dozens of Iranian-made Shahed drones on January 1 and 2, but kyiv said on Monday it had shot down all 39 drones in the latest wave, including 22 over the capital.
kyiv said the new tactic was a sign of Russia’s desperation as Ukraine’s ability to defend its airspace had improved.
“Now they are looking for routes and trying to hit us somehow, but their terror tactics will not work. Our sky will become a shield,” Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
In his last night speech, President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the Ukrainians for showing gratitude to the troops and to each other, adding that Russia’s efforts would prove useless.
“Drones, missiles, everything else will not help them,” he said, referring to the Russians. “Because we are united. They are only united by fear.”
Russia has resorted to massive airstrikes against Ukrainian cities since suffering humiliating battlefield defeats in the second half of 2022.
In a harsh New Year’s Eve address filmed before a group of people dressed in military uniform, Putin vowed not to give up the war.
“The main thing is the fate of Russia,” Putin said. “The defense of the homeland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral and historical rectitude is on our side.”
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