The Russian Ministry of Defense acknowledged on Monday the death of 63 of its soldiers in Ukrainian strikes on a city under occupation, in the Donetsk region.
Russia faces internal criticism after the death of 63 soldiers in Ukraine, killed in a Ukrainian strike, the heaviest loss in a single attack admitted by Moscow since the beginning of the invasion.
The Ukrainian general staff confirmed on Monday evening that it had carried out this strike on Makiïvka, a city under Russian occupation located east of the separatist city of Donetsk, on New Year’s Eve.
In a rare announcement that followed criticism from Russian war correspondents, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said 63 Russian servicemen were killed in the explosion of “four missiles” at Makiivka. The Russian army has only on very rare occasions given an assessment of its offensive or communicated on its losses.
400 Russian soldiers killed in total?
According to the Ministry of Defense, the missiles were fired by HIMARS systems, a weapon supplied by the United States to Ukrainian forces and which hit “a temporary deployment center” of the Russian army in Makiivka.
“Up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged,” the General Staff said.
Earlier in the day, the strategic communications department of the Ukrainian armed forces said that nearly 400 Russian soldiers had been killed in Makiivka. The general staff, which did not confirm this figure, declared that a balance sheet of the human “losses” was being established.
“It is dangerous and criminal to consider the enemy as a fool who sees nothing”
The announcement of these heavy losses immediately provoked criticism of the Russian military command, accused in particular by the former separatist leader Igor Strelkov, very aware of the situation on the ground, of having stored ammunition in this unprotected building. .
Increasingly influential Russian war reporters say hundreds killed in attack on vocational school in Makiivka, accuse top military commanders of failing to learn lessons of their past mistakes.
“Ten months after the start of the war, it is dangerous and criminal to regard the enemy as a fool who sees nothing,” said Andrey Medvedev, deputy speaker of the Moscow city legislature.
The governor of the Russian region of Samara, Dmitry Azarov, announced the opening of a telephone line for relatives of killed soldiers.
Reactions on social networks
On social media, some have accused Russian authorities of downplaying the death toll.
“My God, who is going to believe the number 63? The building has been completely destroyed,” wrote a Russian, Nina Vernykh, on the main Russian social network VKontakte.
On this social network, the Russians were invited to collect clothes, medicines and equipment for the survivors. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part announced that his army had shot down more than 80 drones since the beginning of 2023. ” In the near future, this number may increase,” he said.
The announcement of this strike comes after a New Year marked by Russian bombardments on kyiv and other cities, which left five dead and dozens injured.
