This data revealed that dormitory No. 28 in the city was hosting more than 700 Kiev soldiers, with 600 more staying in dormitory No. 47…reports Asian Lite News
More than 600 of Kiev’s troops have been eliminated in a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian-held city of Kramatorsk in the Donbass, Russia’s Defence Ministry has claimed, the media reported.
The bombardment on Sunday was a “retaliation operation” carried out in response to “a criminal attack” by Ukraine on a temporary housing area accommodating Russian servicemen in the city of Makeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on New Year’s night, the ministry said in a statement.
Over the past 24 hours, the Russian military has managed to uncover and confirm the location of Ukrainian troops in Kramatorsk in the DPR, the statement read.
This data revealed that dormitory No. 28 in the city was hosting more than 700 Kiev soldiers, with 600 more staying in dormitory No. 47.
“As a result of a massive missile attack on these temporary housing areas of the Ukrainian military’s units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed,” the ministry said.
On January 1, at precisely 0:01 a.m., Ukrainian forces targeted a temporary housing area containing Russian troops in the city of Makeyevka. Six missiles from a US-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket launcher were fired at the building. Two of them were intercepted by Russian air defences, but four made it through, causing massive damage to the facility.
The death toll from the strike has reached 89, according to the Russian Defence Ministry.
Ukraine rejects claim
Russia’s claim of killing more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers in an attack in the eastern city of Kramatorsk has been rejected by authorities in Kiev and labelled it as “propaganda”.
Russia claimed the toll without providing any evidence and said the “mass missile strike” in Kramatorsk was in retaliation for a Ukrainian attack at a college for conscripts in Makiivka (Donetsk region) that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers on New Year’s Day.
But rejecting the claim, Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, told the BBC on Sunday night that “this is another piece of Russian propaganda”.
In a statement, the Russian Defence Ministry said more than 1,300 Ukrainian troops were housed in two buildings during the attack on Sunday.
Moscow is however, yet to offer any proof of its claim about the Kramatorsk deaths.
Besides Kramatorsk, there was further shelling in various parts of Ukraine overnight after the end of what Russian President Vladimir Putin said was a 36-hour ceasefire so Orthodox Christians could celebrate Christmas, reports the BBC.
Ukrainian officials said at least one person was killed in the Kharkiv region, while explosions were also reported in the southern cities of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol.
