Russia criticized after admitting that at least 63 soldiers died as a result of military attacks Ukraine in the city of Makiivka. The Russian military command has been accused of recklessness by placing its soldiers in an unsecured building near an ammunition depot.
As reported by CNN on Tuesday (3/1/2023), the Russian Defense Ministry, in a relatively rare announcement, acknowledged that at least 63 of its soldiers have died “following a four-missile attack” in Makiivka, Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by Moscow forces.
This figure is the highest number of casualties reported by the Russian Defense Ministry since the invasion of Ukraine was launched in February last year.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the US-supplied HIMARS missile system was used in the attack on Makiivka and that the target was a temporary deployment point for Moscow’s troops.
The attack on Russian troops in Ukraine sparked sharp criticism of the Russian military from pro-Russian military bloggers, who said the Moscow soldiers had no protection and were stationed in an adjacent vocational school building to a warehouse that held large quantities of ammunition.
The ammunition depot reportedly exploded when Ukrainian troops fired HIMARS rockets at the building housing Russian troops.
Igor Girkin, a Russian propagandist who covers the war in Ukraine via Telegram, says the building was almost completely destroyed in a secondary explosion from an ammunition depot.
Girkin is known for having long railed against Russian military generals, who he says are directing the war from positions far from the front lines. Girkin was previously Minister of Defense (Menhan) in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a pro-Russian breakaway region in eastern Ukraine.
He was found guilty by a Dutch court of mass murder for his involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Read more on the next page:
