At least 63 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike on Makiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Monday, January 2, with Ukrainian authorities citing a much higher toll.
Since the start of its military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian army, which speaks very little of the number of dead and wounded in its ranks, had never reported such heavy losses suffered in a single attack.
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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 town under Russian occupation located east of Donetsk.
The Russian ministry specifies that it is a strike from 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 Makiivka . “The families and loved ones of the soldiers killed will have all the help and support they need”assured the spokesman of the ministry.
Geolocation of Russian phones
On Sunday, Russian and Ukrainian media began reporting on the strike 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 recently mobilized in Russia had been affected.
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This bombardment was made possible by a “extensive use by newly arrived soldiers of their mobile phones”which would have allowed their geolocation by the Ukrainian army, an anonymous source within the separatist authorities in Donetsk told the Russian public news agency Tass on Monday.
Several war correspondents supporting the offensive launched by Russia criticized the Russian military command on Telegram, saying that the soldiers on the spot should have had their phones taken away and avoided being concentrated in a single building.
