Scores of Russian soldiers were killed when Ukrainian missiles struck a building in the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine on New Year’s Day, according to Russian authorities.
“The Kiev regime struck with six rockets of the U.S.-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system at the point of temporary deployment of one of the units of the Russian armed forces in the area of the settlement of Makeyevka,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said two rockets were shot down but four slammed into the building and surrounding area. The ministry said 63 service members died in the attack, although details remained sketchy. Dmitry Azarov, governor of Russia’s Samara region, said an unspecified number of residents were among the killed and wounded.
Igor Strelkov, a Russian military blogger and former defense minister for the breakaway region, said on Telegram the building was almost completely destroyed after detonation of ammunition stored in the same building.
“Almost all the military equipment standing next to the building without the slightest sign of camouflage was also destroyed,” he wrote. “Many people are listed as missing under the rubble.”
Strelkov also noted that Russian officers “prefer to stay further from the location of the trusted troops – out of the range of the enemy’s missiles.”
Daniil Bezsonov, an official with the Russian-appointed administration in Donetsk, called for the punishment of officers who ordered a large number of troops to be stationed at the facility.
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Other developments:
►Russian officials claim to have shot down a Ukrainian drone approaching the Russian city of Voronezh, almost 400 miles from the Ukraine border. No damage or injuries were reported, the regional government said in a statement.
►A Ukrainian drone hit an energy facility in the Bryansk region of Russia along the Ukraine border, Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said Monday. A village was left without power, he said.
Kyiv claims destruction of 40 Russian drones
Russia deployed multiple exploding drones in another nighttime attack on Ukraine, officials said Monday, as the Kremlin signaled no letup in its strategy of using bombardments to target the country’s energy infrastructure and wear down Ukrainian resistance to its invasion.
The barrage was the latest in a series of relentless year-end attacks, including one that killed three civilians on New Year’s Eve.
On Monday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that 40 drones “headed for Kyiv” overnight. All of them were destroyed, according to air defense forces.
Contributing: The Associated Press
