On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that 63 of its troops were killed in an attack on a facility in the eastern Donetsk region. The attack was reportedly carried out by Ukrainian forces using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon.
The strike took place just after midnight on Sunday, New Year’s Day, on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region. According to the defense ministry statement, Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down.
The attack has led to vocal criticism of the Russian military from pro-Russian military bloggers, who claimed that the troops lacked protection and were reportedly being quartered next to a large ammunition cache. Dmitry Azarov, the governor of Russia’s Samara region, reported that an unspecified number of residents of the region were also killed in the attack.
The incident marks one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago. It is a new setback for Russia, which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The attack has sparked international condemnation, with many calling for an immediate ceasefire in the region. It remains to be seen how the incident will affect the ongoing conflict between the two countries.
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