Ukraine puts death toll from New Year’s Eve strike in the occupied city of Makiivka at 400 Russian soldiers. Russia has said that 63 of its troops were killed during a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve attack on a makeshift barracks in the partly-occupied Donetsk region. The ministry said in a statement on Monday that Ukraine’s military had launched six projectiles at the “provisional base” in the eastern city of Makiivka using the HIMARS guided rocket system supplied by the United States. Two of the missiles were shot down by Russian air defences, it added, but four struck the building. The ministry’s statement came after the Strategic Communications Department of Ukraine’s armed forces said late on Sunday that 400 Russian troops were killed in the attack and another 300 were wounded. Footage posted online appeared to show a building purported to be a vocational college in Russian-controlled Makiivka reduced to smouldering rubble.
via al jazeera: Russia says 63 troops killed in Ukrainian attack on Makiivka
siehe auch: Ukraine claims hundreds of Russians killed by missile attack. Ukraine says around 400 Russian soldiers have died in a missile attack on the occupied Donetsk region. Russian officials contested the figure, admitting only to 63 of their troops being killed. Neither claim has been verified. The attack hit a building in the city of Makiivka, where Russian forces were stationed. It is extremely rare for battlefield casualties to be confirmed by Moscow. But this was such a deadly attack, says the BBC’s Russian editor Steve Rosenberg, that staying silent most probably wasn’t an option. In a statement on Monday, Russia’s defence ministry said Ukrainian forces fired six rockets using the US-made Himars rocket system at a building housing Russian troops. Two of them were shot down, it added. Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Russian-backed official in the occupied parts of Donetsk, said the missile struck Makiivka two minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day. Although access to Russian-controlled areas is restricted, a number of Russian commentators and bloggers acknowledged the attack – but said the numbers were lower than claimed by Ukraine. But Igor Girkin, a pro-Russian commentator, said hundreds had been killed and wounded, although the exact number was still unknown because of the large number still missing. The building itself was “almost completely destroyed”, he said. He added that the victims were mainly mobilised troops – that is, recent conscripts, rather than those who chose to fight. He also said ammunition was stored in the same building as the soldiers, making the damage worse. “Almost all of the military equipment was also destroyed, which stood right next to the building without any disguise whatsoever,” he wrote on Telegram. Girkin is a well-known military blogger, who led Russian-backed separatists when they occupied of large parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014. He was recently found guilty of murder for his part in the shooting down of flight MH17; Mit diesem Raketenwerfer schaltete Ukraine Hunderte Russen-Soldaten aus. Die ukrainischen Streitkräfte haben nach eigener Darstellung in der Region Donezk im Osten des Landes mehrere hundert russische Soldaten getötet. Die Offensive gelang offenbar durch die von den USA gelieferten Himars-Raketenwerfer. Einige Informationen im Überblick. Laut Angaben der Ukraine ist in der Neujahrsnacht in Makijiwka ein Gebäude zerstört worden, das neu mobilisierten russischen Truppen als Unterkunft diente. Die Rede ist von einer „hohen Zahl von Toten“, übereinstimmenden Medienberichten zufolge kamen etwa 400 russische Soldaten ums Leben; Tödlicher ukrainischer Angriff auf Makijiwka. Warum Handytelefonate zum Tod von 63 russischen Soldaten führten Moskau · Nach Angaben Moskaus sind bei einem ukrainischen Angriff im Osten der Ukraine mindestens 63 russische Soldaten getötet worden. Grund dafür könnte laut Insiderinformationen das massenhafte Telefonieren mit Handys gewesen sein. Das russische Verteidigungsministerium teilte am Montag mit, vier Raketen mit hochexplosiven Sprengköpfen hätten einen „temporären Stützpunkt“ der russischen Armee in der Stadt Makijiwka getroffen, zwei weitere hätten abgeschossen werden können. Das ukrainische Militär sprach von deutlich mehr getöteten russischen Soldaten in Makijiwka, ohne sich zu dem Angriff zu bekennen. (…) Der Angriff sei möglich gewesen, weil die gerade eingetroffenen Soldaten intensiv ihre Mobiltelefone benutzt hätten, erklärte eine anonyme Quelle von den pro-russischen Separatisten in Donezk gegenüber der staatlichen russischen Nachrichtenagentur Tass am Montag. Dadurch habe die ukrainische Armee sie orten können.