The Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Makiivka has suffered a major attack that resulted in multiple casualties, according to reports.
The Moscow-installed administration of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said that at least 25 rockets were fired by Ukrainian forces at the region overnight on New Year’s Eve, according to a Reuters report.
Russia’s state news agency TASS, said the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has confirmed that 63 servicemen died as a result of the attack.
However, Ukrainian media estimates have put Russia’s losses in the hundreds.
Getty
Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian online newspaper, said the strike killed 400 soldiers with an additional 300 wounded.
The report cited Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (StratCom) for the figure.
Newsweek has not been able to independently confirm the number of Russian casualties.
Ukrainian-American journalist Viktor Kovalenko shared a screenshot from a video that has gone viral that allegedly shows the aftermath of the attack on Makivvka.
#Ukraine Armed Forces claim that in the new year’s night, 400 newly arrived Rus. mobilized men from Saratov were killed & 300 wounded as a result of a HIMARS strike on Makiivka trade school #19 in the Donbas region of Ukraine where they headquartered & watched Putin’s NY greeting pic.twitter.com/cxsVH6JJEK
— Viktor Kovalenko (@MrKovalenko) January 1, 2023
Kovalenko wrote: “Ukraine Armed Forces claim that in the new year’s night, 400 newly arrived Rus. mobilized men from Saratov were killed and 300 wounded as a result of a HIMARS strike on Makiivka trade school #19 in the Donbas region of Ukraine where they headquartered and watched Putin’s NY greeting.”
The viral video, which was posted on Telegram by user Horevica, began circulating on Twitter on January 1. It has since been viewed more than 210,000 times.
Posted by Twitter user Tendar, the caption read: “The Russian base in Makiivka is but dust.
“HIMARS have delivered absolute carnage. An expected response for the Russian Shahed terror attacks on New Years Eve and the newest reminder that no matter where Russians position themselves, they are not safe.”
The Russian base in Makiivka is but dust. HIMARS have delivered absolute carnage. An expected response for the Russian Shahed terror attacks on New Years Eve and the newest reminder that no matter where Russians position themselves, they are not safe. #Ukraine #Donetsk #Makiivka pic.twitter.com/Pfguo4phIK
— (((Tendar))) (@Tendar) January 1, 2023
Former Russian military commander Igor Girkin took to Telegram to say that more than 200 Russians had been killed in the strike and many more may be buried in rubble.
Dmitri of the War Translated project, an independent project concerned with translating various materials about the war, tweeted Girkin’s Telegram posts.
He captioned the images: “Girkin on Makiivka incident—hundreds of victims, many still under the rubble. The building where they were housed also contained an ammunition cache and vehicle storage, which is why the strike was so deadly.
In recent days, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has been keen to highlight an increase in Russian casualties.
On Sunday, the department said that the previous day’s toll of Russian soldiers killed was 760, which is significantly more than the typical daily average of less than 600.
On Saturday the Defense Ministry said that 710 Russians had been killed, bringing the two-day total for Russian dead to 1470.
Since the start of the war, Russia has lost an estimated 106,720 soldiers, according to Ukraine.
Since February 2022, when Russia launched its invasion, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has been releasing figures regarding Russian losses.
These have regularly been higher than the official figures the Kremlin has provided.
Newsweek has contacted Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.
