NEW DELHI: In an extremely rare announcement of Russian losses in Ukraine, the Kremlin on Monday admitted that 63 servicemen were killed in eastern Ukraine as Kyiv forces struck a camp using US-supplied missile systems. Ukraine, however, claimed the toll was closer to 400.
The attack -- possibly Ukraine's deadliest single-day strike against the Kremlin -- triggered anger among Russians, and several nationalist bloggers called for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers near an ammunition dump.
Up to 400 Russian soldiers killed, claims Ukraine
The Russian defence ministry said four missiles with high-explosive warheads struck a temporary deployment point that resulted in the death of 63 soldiers. The fiery blasts destroyed a temporary barracks in a former vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk.
Kyiv on Monday took responsibility for the deadly strike. "On December 31, up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged in Makiivka," said the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces, adding that human "losses" were still being established.
According to a report by The Kyiv Independent -- citing the Strategic Communications Department of the Ukraine's military post on Telegram -- around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and 300 others were injured.
In a daily update, Ukraine's General Staff had said that 760 Russian troops were killed in an operation on December 30.
Rare admission by Russia
The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine launched 6 missiles at the facility out of which two were shot down. It further said its air defence facilities shot down 15 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles and intercepted three rocket-propelled projectiles across several cities.
Meanwhile, former Russian separatist leader Igor Strelkov said "hundreds" were killed and wounded when the missiles struck a facility that housed mobilised troops. He added that reports of the strike started coming in around 1 am on January 1.
The Russian defence ministry did not say when the strike took place, but Ukrainian forces are believed to have struck as Russian troops rang in the New Year.
Russia's acknowledgement of scores of deaths in one incident is almost without precedent.
Moscow rarely releases figures for its casualties, and when it does the figures are typically low - it acknowledged just one death from among a crew of hundreds when Ukraine sank its flagship cruiser Moskva in April.
Military bloggers counter Russian figures
Kremlin critics have repeatedly accused Russian authorities of downplaying losses on the battlefield in Ukraine. Russian military bloggers said several hundred troops could have died as a result of the strike in Makiivka.
The bloggers, many with hundreds of thousands of followers, said the huge destruction was a result of storing ammunition in the same building as a barracks, despite commanders knowing it was within range of Ukrainian rockets.
Igor Girkin, a former commander of pro-Russian troops in east Ukraine who has emerged as one of the highest profile Russian nationalist military bloggers, said the death toll was in the hundreds. Ammunition had been stored at the site and Russian military equipment there was uncamouflaged, he added.
Another nationalist blogger, Rybar, said around 70 soldiers were confirmed dead and more than 100 wounded.
"What happened in Makiivka is horrible," wrote Archangel Spetznaz Z, another Russian military blogger with more than 700,000 followers on Telegram.
"Who came up with the idea to place personnel in large numbers in one building, where even a fool understands that even if they hit with artillery, there will be many wounded or dead?" he wrote. Commanders "couldn't care less" about ammunition stored in disarray on the battlefield, he said.
Ukraine downs 39 drones launched by Russia
Russia has recently launched nightly attacks on Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, hundreds of kilometres from the front lines. The strikes mark a change in tactics, after months in which Moscow usually spaced such strikes around a week apart.
Russia has turned to mass air strikes against Ukrainian cities since suffering humiliating defeats on the battlefield in the second half of 2022.
After firing dozens of missiles on December 31, Russia launched dozens of Iranian-made Shahed drones on January 1-2. But Kyiv said on Monday it had shot down all 39 drones in the latest wave, including 22 shot down over the capital.
Kyiv said the new tactic was a sign of Russia's desperation as Ukraine's ability to defend its air space had improved.
"Now they are looking for routes and attempts to hit us somehow, but their terror tactics will not work. Our sky will turn into a shield," presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
In his latest nightly speech, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Ukrainians for showing gratitude to the troops and one another and said Russia's efforts would prove useless. "Drones, missiles, everything else will not help them," he said of the Russians. "Because we stand united. They are united only by fear."
No let-up, warnsPutin
Russia has flattened Ukrainian cities, killed thousands of civilians and annexed swathes of Ukraine since Putin ordered his invasion in February, calling Ukraine an artificial state whose pro-Western outlook threatened Russia's security.
Ukraine has fought back with Western military support, driving Russian forces from more than half the territory they seized. In recent weeks, the front lines have been largely static, with thousands of soldiers dying in intense warfare.
In a stern New Year's Eve message filmed in front of a group of people dressed in military uniform, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed no let-up in his war.
"The main thing is the fate of Russia," Putin said. "Defence of the fatherland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical righteousness is on our side."
(With inputs from agencies) Read More