Russia has officially admitted that 63 soldiers died in the attack on Makijivka, Ukraine. The great loss of men has been heavily criticized in Russia.
Leonard Wilhelmus,
Vilma Romsi
New Year’s Eve of the Russian soldiers crammed into the vocational school building to the Himars missiles in Makijivka in Eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine had managed to find out the location of the Russian soldiers, and carried out one of the most destructive strikes of the entire war.
In general, Ukraine has not commented on its attacks on Russian-occupied territories. On Monday, however, it made an exception.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said that Ukraine had managed to kill up to 300-400 Russian soldiers in the New Year attack. According to Ukraine, the soldiers had just been recruited to the front during the launch of the campaign.
Later, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army slowed down its assessment and spoke only about the destruction of equipment and military casualties, but said that the number of casualties was still being determined.
However, Ukraine’s strong claim forced Russia to react. On Monday, the country’s Ministry of Defense admitted that 63 Russian soldiers were killed in an attack carried out by Ukraine.
At first, the Ministry of Defense also said According to the BBC (you will switch to another service) that specifically enlisted soldiers suffered, but it later removed this wording from the bulletin.
Strong criticism in Russia
The news of the exceptionally large loss of men has been bitterly received in Russia. Criticism has been heard especially from nationalist war bloggers, but also from the country’s parliament.
– Whose idea was it to place a large number of personnel in the same place, when even a fool understands that even an artillery strike could cause a lot of deaths and injuries? popular Russian blogger Spetznaz Z wrote on his Telegram channel.
Congressman Sergei Mironov on the other hand, demanded criminal liability for individuals who had “allowed the concentration of army personnel in an unprotected building” and for higher decision-makers who “did not provide an adequate level of security”.
A US think tank According to ISW (you switch to another service) The Russian Ministry of Defense has tried to shift the responsibility for the attacks to the local military leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic and to negligent soldiers.
According to the authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the attack was caused by the unauthorized use of personal phones by Russian soldiers.
However, the explanation has not gone through for several war bloggers.
Bloggers close to Wagner, the private mercenary army in particular, have demanded responsibility from the Ministry of Defense and stated that similar mistakes happen constantly.
Source: Reuters