Russia announced it lost 63 soldiers in a Ukrainian attack. But on the other hand, Ukraine claims that 400 Russian soldiers were killed. Either way, the great losses on the battlefield that Russia has are very embarrassing for the Kremlin
Ukrainian rockets hit a building housing many Russian soldiers in the occupied city of Donetsk over the weekend, according to the Russians 63 of their soldiers were killed, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced. But Ukraine claims hundreds of Russian soldiers have been killed, but even the lower number represents one of the deadliest attacks against Russian forces in Ukraine since the war began.
The spokesman for the Russian-appointed puppet government in the Donetsk region, Daniil Bezsonov, called the attack in the city of Mkaivka a “tremendous blow”. The Ukrainian military claimed that “about 400” Russian soldiers died, although this figure could not be verified, the New York Post reported.
Ukraine hit the building with Hirms missiles, a US-supplied rocket system with a range of tens of kilometers that has for months helped Ukrainian forces strike deep behind the front lines. The system is part of a growing arsenal of sophisticated Western weaponry that has helped Ukraine turn the tide of the war.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that four rockets hit the temporary base of the soldiers in Maykivka. The attack, which occurred shortly after midnight last Saturday night, immediately sparked outrage among some of Russia’s pro-war military commentators, who said it represented the latest example of Russian military commanders’ incompetence in war and their disregard for the lives of Russian soldiers.
A former Russian military commander in Ukraine, Igor Girkin, confirmed the severity of the attack and wrote on Telegram that “many hundreds were killed and wounded”, adding that many people “remained under the rubble”. Russian bloggers criticized the Russian military, claiming that the attack was caused by Russian soldiers using cell phones, which helped Ukrainian forces pinpoint their location. “Initially, the reason for the missile strike was the use of cell phones by soldiers who had just arrived at the base,” Russian media reported.