Russia claims, without evidence, to have killed at least 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a single attack

First modification: 08/01/2023 – 18:31

The Russian missile attack in Kramatorsk caused damage but did not destroy buildings and caused no casualties, witnesses told the Reuters news agency on Sunday, after Russia claimed to have killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in the attack.

Reuters reporters visited the two university dormitories that the Russian Defense Ministry says housed Ukrainian servicemen near the front line at the time of the overnight attack.

None of the buildings appeared to have sustained serious damage during the attack. There were also no obvious signs that soldiers had lived there, no signs of corpses or traces of blood.

The building had some broken windows in hostel no. 47, located next to a courtyard with a large crater. The other building named after the Russian Ministry of Defense, the hostel No. 28, was fully intact. About 50 meters away, near some garages, there was a crater.

kyiv had no immediate comment on the attack or the Russian claim of hundreds of casualties. The mayor of Kramatorsk earlier commented that there had been no casualties.

An alleged revenge for the attack in Makiivka

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the attack on the Kramatorsk buildings was a revenge operation for last week’s deadly Ukrainian attack on a Russian headquarters in Makiivka, in part of the Donetsk region controlled by Russian forces. from Moscow.

As recognized by the Russian Army, 89 soldiers died in the bombardment carried out with HIMARS missile launchers after the Ukrainian forces allegedly located said soldiers for the massive use of mobile phones to congratulate their relatives on the end of the year holidays. According to kyiv, at least 400 Russian soldiers died in the attack.

Anti-aircraft batteries intercepted two missiles, but four hit the building, the roof of which collapsed on the soldiers. Moscow promised to take measures “to avoid such tragic events in the future” and assured that it would punish the culprits, since, in addition to professional soldiers, among the victims were reservists recruited within the framework of partial mobilization.

In the alleged attack on Sunday, Moscow used information it described as reliable to attack Ukrainian troops. More than 700 Ukrainian soldiers had been housed in one hostel and more than 600 in another, they said.

“As a result of a massive missile attack on these temporary deployment points of Ukrainian Army units, more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed,” the Russian Defense Ministry said without giving evidence of the fact.

Two thermal power plants were damaged by Ukrainian shelling in Russian-controlled parts of the Donetsk region and there are preliminary reports of injuries, officials in Moscow said on Sunday.

For his part, Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, declared on television that there was heavy fighting in the region and that Russian forces deployed their combat units and heavy equipment in the occupied city of Kriminna, which meant , according to him, that the Russians are beginning to withdraw from the region.

Arms shipment, the fastest way according to Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said the “quickest path” to a negotiated peace solution between Russia and Ukraine is to continue supporting kyiv with weapons, which would benefit its position at a potential negotiating table with Moscow.

Speaking at the Folk och Försvar security conference in the Swedish town of Sälen, Stoltenberg said that while “it is impossible to say when or how the war in Ukraine will end,” it is known that “most wars end up at the negotiating table” and “this one will probably end that way too.

“What the Ukrainians achieve at the negotiating table will depend on their strength on the battlefield. If we want a negotiated peace solution in which Ukraine survives as an independent democratic country in Europe, the fastest path is to support Ukraine. Guns are, in fact, the path to peace,” Stoltenberg commented during the conference.

The official warned that a Russian victory would be “a tragedy for Ukrainians” but “also dangerous for us” because it “sends a message to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and other authoritarian leaders that if they use military force they will get what they want.” they want”.

“It would make us more vulnerable. There will be no lasting peace if oppression and tyranny trump freedom and democracy. So not only do we have a moral obligation to support one country that is attacked by another, it is also in our interest and it is important for our security,” he concluded.

With Reuters and EFE