The defense ministry did not say when the strike took place. (Represent)
Kiev:
63 Russian soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine when Kiev forces attacked a barracks using US-supplied Himars systems, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Monday.
Ukraine claimed responsibility for the deadly attack and said the death toll in an attack in the town of Makiivka in the Moscow-controlled area in the eastern Donetsk region was much higher.
“On December 31, up to 10 units of military equipment of various types of the enemy were destroyed and damaged” in the town of Makiivka in the eastern region of Donetsk, the General Staff of the Forces armed Ukraine said in a statement. It said the human “loss” was still being established.
“Following the attack by four missiles with high-explosive warheads on a temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“All necessary help and support will be provided to the relatives and loved ones of the deceased service members,” the defense ministry said.
The defense ministry did not say when the attack took place, but Ukrainian forces are believed to have attacked as Russian troops rang New Year’s bells.
This statement is an extremely rare announcement of Russian losses in Ukraine.
Critics of the Kremlin accuse the Russian authorities of downplaying battlefield losses in Ukraine.
Russian military bloggers say hundreds of soldiers may have been killed as a result of the Makiivka attack.
Former Russian separatist leader Igor Strelkov said he received reports of the strike at around 1am on January 1 (23h00 GMT on December 31).
He said “hundreds” of people were killed and wounded, adding that the Ukrainian army had attacked a facility containing mobilized troops.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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