Russia on Sunday claimed it took control of a village in Ukraine’s easternmost Luhansk region A statement by the Defense Ministry said its forces captured the village of Makiivka about 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) southeast of the city of Kupiansk an important front in the ongoing Ukraine war situated in the neighboring Kharkiv region Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on Russia’s claims and independent verification of the claims is difficult due to the ongoing conflict Russia says 89 soldiers died in the New Year’s Eve strike but Ukrainian authorities claim the true figure is much higher Russia has acknowledged its worst military losses since the war in Ukraine began, in an attack on New Year’s Eve. Officials say 89 servicemen were killed in Makiivka in eastern Ukraine. Here is what we know. On Monday Russia’s defence ministry made an extremely rare announcement, acknowledging that 63 Russian soldiers had been killed in a strike in Makiivka, a small city in the Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which has been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014. Read moreRussian and Ukrainian sources began reporting on the strike on Sunday saying that Russian mobilised personnel – not professional soldiers – had been killed said Ukraine had hit a temporary base in Makiivka at 12:01 am local time on 1 January the ministry said the toll had risen to 89 after more bodies were discovered Satellite images taken by US-based company Planet Labs dated 20 December and 2 January show the aftermath of Ukraine’s strike on the Russian-held city of Makiivka The vocational school reportedly housed recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow when it was hit on 1 January.It is the biggest loss of life from a single attack that Moscow has acknowledged since it began its invasion in February The incident was also the first communication about any military deaths since September gave a toll of Russian 5,937 soldiers killed to that point The Ukrainian army’s strategic communications department said that nearly 400 soldiers were killed and 300 injured in the strike in Makiivka but this figure has not been independently verified The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces later said it did not have a final toll and announced that “up to 10 units of enemy military equipment” had been destroyed Russia’s military leadership blamed the high number of casualties on the use of mobile phones by their soldiers Sevryukov said the army had determined that the reason for the high death toll “was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons” He did not provide evidence for this claim Ukrainian forces simply said there was a “concentration” of soldiers in Makiivka who is familiar with the situation on the ground said the building was “almost completely” destroyed because ammunition stored on the premises detonated in the strike He said “hundreds” had been killed and wounded There have also been reports that the servicemen were quartered next to the munitions depot that exploded A popular Russian military blogger said it was “criminally naive” for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters some conclusions have still not been drawn,” wrote blogger Boris Rozhin criticising the “incompetence” of Russian military leadership wrote: “Why do we keep putting up [mobilised personnel] in hotels Strelkov said another deadly strike could happen “at any moment” adding that Russian generals were “incapable of learning” The US-based Institute for the Study of War predicted Russia’s defence ministry would try to “deflect the blame for its poor operational security” on to local officials and mobilised personnel In a rare public commemoration, about 200 people gathered in the Russian city of Samara – where some of the victims came from – to commemorate the dead an Orthodox priest recited a prayer for the dead Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The death toll from a Ukrainian New Year strike in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine has risen to 89 after Russians gathered to mourn the troops in a rare public display of anger and grief The Russian Defense Ministry announced the recovery of further bodies from the rubble of a vocational school in the town of Makiivka in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine and that the death toll had risen from 63 to 89 The Defense Ministry said that the tragedy had occurred because Russian troops had used their cell phones giving away their location to Ukrainian forces Russia had said on Monday that 63 troops had been killed the biggest loss of life from a single strike reported by Moscow since the start of the invasion in February "The number of our dead comrades has gone up to 89," Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov said in a video statement released by the Defense Ministry early on Wednesday More bodies had been found under the rubble Ukraine struck a temporary base in Makiivka at 12:01 am local time on January 1 Russian President Vladimir Putin had just delivered his traditional New Year's address The Kremlin chief hailed "our heroes" fighting in Ukraine and declared that "historical rightness is on our side." Ukraine has taken responsibility for the strike and said the toll could be much higher Russian war correspondents said many of the victims were reservists recently mobilized into the army The admission of the heavy losses came after the war correspondents who have gained influence in recent months accused Russia's top commanders of fatal incompetence a commission is working to investigate the circumstances of what has happened," Sevryukov said on Wednesday "But it is already obvious that the main reason for what has happened was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons contrary to the ban." He said measures were being taken to ensure such incidents would not happen in the future and that all those responsible would be punished The new announcement came after mourners gathered in several cities of the Volga region of Samara — where some of the servicemen came from — to mourn the dead Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Emergency crews on Tuesday sifted through the rubble of a building struck by Ukrainian rockets killing at least 63 Russian soldiers in the latest blow to the Kremlin’s war strategy as Ukraine says Moscow’s tactics could be shifting An Associated Press video of the scene in Makiivka a town in the partially Russian-occupied eastern Donetsk region showed five cranes and emergency workers removing big chunks of concrete under a clear blue sky Ukrainian forces fired rockets from a U.S.-provided HIMARS multiple launch system according to a Russian Defense Ministry statement READ MORE: Russian ministry says Ukrainian rocket strike killed dozens of Russian troops It was one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago and an embarrassment that stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the war is being conducted The Russian statement Monday about the attack provided few other details unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed Sunday that around 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded That claim couldn’t be independently verified The Russian statement said the strike occurred “in the area of Makiivka” and didn’t mention the vocational school Satellite photos analyzed by The AP show the apparent aftermath of the strike making seeing the site by standard satellite imagery impossible Vigils for soldiers killed in the strike took place in two Russian cities Tuesday locals gathered for an Orthodox service in memory of the dead The service was followed by a minute’s silence and flowers were laid at a Soviet-era war memorial Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilized reservists from the region WATCH: Ukraine carries out one of the deadliest attacks against Russian forces since war began With the fighting raging much longer than anticipated by the Kremlin and becoming bogged down in a war of attrition amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive backed by Western-supplied weapons Russian President Vladimir Putin is mulling ways of regaining momentum includes stepping up bombardments of Ukraine territory with Iranian-made exploding drones “We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack by Shaheds (exploding drones),” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address late Monday He said the goal is to break Ukraine’s resistance by “exhausting our people our energy,” more than 10 months after Russia invaded its neighbor the exploding drones are a cheap weapon which also spreads fear among Ukrainian troops and civilians The United States and its allies have sparred with Iran over Tehran’s role in allegedly supplying Moscow with the drones The Institute for the Study of War said that Putin is striving to strengthen support for his strategy among key voices in Russia “Russia’s air and missile campaign against Ukraine is likely not generating the Kremlin’s desired information effects among Russia’s nationalists,” the think tank said late Monday “Such profound military failures will continue to complicate Putin’s efforts to appease the Russian pro-war community and retain the dominant narrative in the domestic information space,” it added Putin’s additional reliance on drones might not help him achieve his goals as Ukraine claims a high success rate against the weapons which were marked by relentless nighttime drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure the country’s forces shot down more than 80 Iranian-made drones READ MORE: Russian strikes intensify as Ukrainians return to spend holidays with their families Ukraine’s armed forces have shot down almost 500 drones Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat claimed in a television interview Tuesday As well as seeking to wear down resistance to Russia’s invasion the long-range bombardments have targeted the power grid to leave civilians at the mercy of biting winter weather as power outages ripple across the country a Russian missile strike overnight on the city of Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region wounded two people the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office The Russian military on Tuesday acknowledged carrying out strikes on Druzhkivka and Kramatorsk The Defense Ministry claimed it destroyed four HIMARS launchers in the area This claim could not be independently verified A reporter with French broadcaster TF1 was live on television screens when a blast from one of the strikes erupted behind him in Druzhkivka A German reporter with Bild newspaper suffered a minor injury from shrapnel in the same bombardment Officials said the attack ruined an ice hockey arena described as the largest hockey and figure skating school in Ukraine In the recently retaken areas of the southern Kherson region Russian shelling on Monday killed two people and wounded nine He said Russian forces fired at the city of Kherson 32 times on Monday He also reported that two people were killed in the Kherson region Tuesday after driving over a mine left by withdrawing Russian troops one civilian was killed and two others wounded on Tuesday morning as Russian forces shelled the city of Kurakhove in the eastern Donetsk region Jon Gambrell in Rome contributed to this report © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Moscow says 89 of its soldiers died in attack on school building used as barracks amid claims death toll could be higher A New Year’s Day attack on a complex in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Makiivka has killed scores of recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow in one of deadliest single strikes against Russia’s forces since the war began Russia’s defence ministry, in a rare admission on Monday, said 89 Russian soldiers died when Ukraine hit “a temporary deployment facility” with four US-supplied Himars missiles. 0:26Ukraine: footage shows aftermath of strike on Russian-controlled Makiivka – videoUkraine’s military command said up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the city, which is in a Moscow-controlled area of the Donetsk region. Even if the total numbers are lower, the strike in Makiivka would be one of the deadliest attacks involving conscripts and will add further pressure on Moscow’s military leaders. In a statement, Ukraine’s military’s general staff said “up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged in the area of concentration in the settlement of Makiivka”. Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Moscow proxy official in Russian-occupied Donetsk, earlier said a Ukrainian missile had struck a vocational school in Makiivka that housed soldiers two minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day. Read more“A massive blow was dealt to the vocational school from American MLRS Himars,” Bezsonov wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app “There were dead and wounded; the exact number is still unknown.” Photographs circulating on social media show what appears to be the ruins of the building in Makiivka used by the Russian army as barracks A number of prominent Russian pro-war bloggers and commentators also acknowledged the attack but suggested the number of casualties was higher than the figures reported by the defence ministry since many people are listed as missing (remained under the rubble) there are many hundreds dead and wounded,” Igor Strelkov a Russian ultra-nationalist commentator and former intelligence officer “What happened in Makiivka is horrible,” wrote Archangel Spetznaz Z another Russian military blogger with more than 700,000 followers on Telegram “Who came up with the idea to place personnel in large numbers in one building where even a fool understands that even if they hit with artillery there will be many wounded or dead?” he wrote Commanders “couldn’t care less” about ammunition stored in disarray on the battlefield Rybar, a popular Telegram channel with links to the Russian military, said on Monday as the clearing of debris continued that at least 70 people had died and more than 100 were injured The attack also sparked renewed criticism among pro-invasion bloggers and some officials over the state of Russia’s military and the decision to use civilian infrastructure to house soldiers “Housing personnel in buildings instead of housing them in shelters directly aids the enemy From the situation in Makiivka it is necessary to draw the toughest conclusions,” wrote Andrey Medvedev an ultra-conservative journalist who is deputy chairman of Moscow’s city parliament Bezsonov called for the punishment of “those guilty of the decision to use the facility The Donbas has enough objects with strong infrastructure where you can house army personnel.” a military blogger whom Putin met in the Kremlin in September called for a tribunal for the Russian military leadership describing Moscow’s top officers as “untrained idiots” Russia’s acknowledgment of scores of deaths in one incident was almost without precedent Moscow rarely releases figures for its casualties and when it does the figures are typically low – it acknowledged just one death from among a crew of hundreds when Ukraine sank its flagship cruiser Moskva in April Sunday’s deadly strike came a day after the Ukrainian defence minister said the Kremlin was planning to close its borders and announce a second wave of mass mobilisation in early January The Kremlin earlier denied there were plans to launch a fresh recruitment drive There have been public expressions of anger from citizens over the way the first wave of mobilisation has been handled including complaints that the conscripts were not adequately prepared and equipped Moscow extended its bombardment of Ukraine into a second day launching several waves of Russian drone attacks that targeted critical infrastructure in Kyiv and surrounding areas Energy infrastructure facilities were damaged in the overnight strikes It was the second night in a row of strikes, after Kyiv was targeted on New Year’s Eve The damage to the capital was limited to two cases of rocket debris falling on the city damaging a car in the city centre on Sunday Sunday’s attacks came minutes after Ukraine’s president saying he hoped 2023 would bring a successful conclusion to the fighting “We don’t know for sure what 2023 will bring us I want to wish all of us one thing – victory "We appreciate that Germany plays a pivotal role in supporting Ukraine throughout the years of war Ukraine is also grateful for your personal commitment," President Volodymyr Zelensky said  (Updated:  May 6, 2025 2:23 am)Drones target Moscow second night in a row, Russian official claims. Debris from one of the drones reportedly fell on the Kashirskoye Highway The reported attack comes just days before Russia's Victory Day parade and three-day "truce." MPs will be able to ask questions and learn more about the details of the agreement in meetings with Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko May 6-7 MP Serhii Sobolev told the news outlet Suspilne The ratification vote is scheduled for May 8 Attacks against the border villages of Bilopillia and Vorozhba damaged civilian infrastructure and triggered emergency evacuations the regional military administration reported "I look forward to working with President Erdogan on getting the ridiculous war between Russia and Ukraine ended — now!" U.S Putin's Victory Day truce "doesn't sound like much if you know where we started from," Trump told reporters at the White House on May 5 Far-right Euroskeptic candidate George Simion head of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan placed second with 20.99% of the vote and the candidate from the ruling coalition "It requires the continuation of contacts between Moscow and Washington which have been launched and are now ongoing," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said set to operate within the Council of Europe will focus on Russia's political and military leaders up to 20 Russian soldiers were killed and their equipment destroyed The move represents an apparent violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions passed in the wake of North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests by Martin Fornusek, The Kyiv Independent news deskAlleged footage of smoke rising above Russian occupied Makiivka (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty / Telegram)Sounds of explosions were reported in Russian-occupied Makiivka in Donetsk Oblast on Feb with local Telegram channels publishing footage of black smoke rising above the city has been occupied by Russia since the start of Moscow's aggression in Donbas in 2014 Claims appeared in Telegram channels that air defense was active in the city and that a local oil depot came under an attack There is no information on casualties or damages at the moment The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims Ukrainian nor Russian occupation officials have not yet commented on the reports The Ukrainian military does not usually comment on alleged attacks in Russian-occupied or Russian territory Recast and includes updated casualty count Russia said Wednesday that one person was killed and another 41 were injured by a Ukrainian strike in the Russian-controlled town of Makiivka in the eastern Donetsk region One person has died from their wounds," Vladislav Klyucharov the Moscow-installed head of the city's administration said on Russia's state-run broadcaster Rossiya-24 Ukraine's military said it had destroyed a Russian "formation" in Makiivka and released video showing a huge explosion lighting up the night sky "Another formation of Russian terrorists in the temporarily occupied Makiivka ceased to exist," Ukraine's armed forces said in the statement late Tuesday said Ukrainian forces had launched "fierce attacks" on residential areas and a hospital complex in Makiivka Meanwhile, Russia's TASS news agency said that Ukrainian forces had damaged nine healthcare facilities in shelling citing Moscow-installed officials in Donetsk The state-run agency released images of broken glass strewn on the floor of a medical facility Klyucharov said some 40 houses had been damaged as well as several schools and two fire stations Moscow said 89 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian attack on a temporary base in Makiivka Kyiv and its allies estimated the death toll was higher either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content Russia's "unprofessional practices" have increased the death toll of Moscow's soldiers throughout the war in Ukraine according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense as the Kremlin fields increasingly vocal criticism over a deadly Ukrainian strike Ukrainian forces claimed that around 400 Russians stationed at the building in Makiivka had been killed But the scale of the damage inflicted in the New Year's Eve strike suggests a "realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike," the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter on Wednesday The government department said that the Russian armed forces have a "record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the war but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia's high casualty rate." Russia's defense ministry said in a statement posted to its Telegram channel that the strike had been carried out using six U.S.-made HIMARS, or high mobility artillery rocket systems (5/5) The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate Moscow said the facility's deputy commander had been killed after the ceilings of the vocational college collapsed attributed to Russia's Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov the ministry said an investigation had been opened into the strike But the strike has prompted criticism of the Russian military leadership within the country's borders a nationalist military blogger who led Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2014 was quoted by the Reuters news agency as openly questioning the Kremlin's published information on the Makiivka strike Demonstrations in support of Russian soldiers killed in the Donetsk city were reported across the country as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new decree offering increased "social guarantees" for the families of slain military personnel according to state media organization RIA Novosti Moscow has placed responsibility for the attack on the unsanctioned use of mobile phones by its troops at the training facility Sevryukov was quoted by Russia's state news agency as saying the "main cause" of the strike was the unauthorized and "large-scale use" of mobile phones by personnel The first deputy chief of the Main Military-Political Directorate of Russia's Armed Forces said the use of phones by trainees "enabled the enemy to take the bearing and determine coordinates of servicemen location to deliver a missile strike." Russia's Ministry of Defense has been contacted for comment Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground Newsletters in your inbox See all The Ukrainian New Year's missile strike on Makiivka has led to a usually reticent Moscow admitting its largest single loss of life since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has been met with anger among the Russian population The strike's rising death toll intensified criticism of Russia's military high command with even pro-Kremlin commentators suggesting the death toll could yet climb into the hundreds The deadly strike came after months of domestic anger directed towards the Russian military in the wake of the Kremlin's unpopular mobilization drive.  Russia's Defense Ministry said the death toll had climbed to 89 It also announced a commission would investigate exactly what happened and vowed that any "guilty" officials would be punished.  Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov said the tragedy had likely taken place because Russian troops had used cell phones But some critics have accused the military of trying to shift the blame State television military correspondents — whose influence has risen during the offensive — have accused top commanders of deadly incompetence.  The strike also led to a rare public display of grief in some cities including in Russia's Samara region on the Volga River In a sign that criticism was being taken seriously the influential head of Russia's state RT television channel Margarita Simonyan welcomed the army's promise that officials would "be held accountable." "It is time to understand that impunity does not lead to social harmony There have been reports that the servicemen were quartered in an unprotected building which was destroyed because munitions were stored on the premises and detonated in the strike said it was "criminally naive" for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters Ministry of Defense said Wednesday that claims of ammunition being stored near where troops slept was a "realistic possibility."  "The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage," it said in a statement.  "This incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate your new go-to podcast to spice up your weekday mornings with relevant news and behind-the-scenes from Brussels and beyond From the economy to the climate and the EU's role in world affairs this talk show sheds light on European affairs and the issues that impact on our daily lives as Europeans Tune in to understand the ins and outs of European politics Dare to imagine the future with business and tech visionaries Deep dive conversations with business leaders Euronews Tech Talks goes beyond discussions to explore the impact of new technologies on our lives the podcast provides valuable insights into the intersection of technology and society Europe's water is under increasing pressure floods are taking their toll on our drinking water Join us on a journey around Europe to see why protecting ecosystems matters and to discover some of the best water solutions an animated explainer series and live debate - find out why Water Matters We give you the latest climate facts from the world’s leading source analyse the trends and explain how our planet is changing We meet the experts on the front line of climate change who explore new strategies to mitigate and adapt Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday blamed the illegal use of mobile phones by its soldiers for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that it said killed 89 servicemen raising the reported death toll significantly Moscow previously said 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the weekend attack -- but Kyiv claimed the death toll was much higher with around 400 Russian soldiers killed and 300 more injured in the incident The defence ministry's reaction came amid mounting anger among some Russian commentators who are increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine Most of the anger on social media was directed at military commanders rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin who has not commented publicly on the attack which was another blow after major battlefield retreats in recent months The Russians said four Ukrainian missiles hit a temporary barracks in a vocational college in Makiivka twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Although an official probe has been launched the main reason for the attack was clearly the illegal mass use of mobile phones by servicemen "This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' location for a missile strike," it said in a statement issued just in the early hours of Wednesday morning Moscow time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who rarely comments on specific Ukrainian military strikes made no mention of the attack in a video address on Tuesday in which he said Russia was set to launch a major offensive to improve its fortunes "We have no doubt that current masters of Russia will throw everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat," Zelenskyy said in a video address Any attempt at their new offensive must fail," he continued Ukraine's military has said it launched a strike that resulted in Russian loss of equipment and possibly personnel near Makiivka Russian nationalist bloggers and some pro-Russian officials in the region put the Makiivka death toll in the hundreds though some say that those estimates are exaggerated Russian families on Sunday buried servicemen killed in a Ukrainian New Year's strike on troops in the eastern town of Makiivka At least nine men were laid to rest in the central region of Samara on the Volga River on Saturday and Sunday Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24 last year Russian authorities have kept a tight lid on troop casualties and funerals for Russian men killed in Ukraine are usually low-key.  Russia's defense ministry said this week that using US-supplied artillery Ukraine had killed 89 troops in the Russian-controlled town of Makiivka in the eastern region of Donetsk Russian military correspondents say the death toll could be much higher and the targeted troops largely consisted of newly-mobilized soldiers city authorities said Sunday in a statement on VKontakte Both men are understood to have worked at AvtoVAZ said the two men had gone to Ukraine "to defend the interests of the Fatherland our future and the future of our children." pledged to support the families of the two killed in Ukraine.  Another two men were buried in the town of Novokuibyshevsk they acted like real patriots and real men," the head of Novokuibyshevsk Another five men were buried in smaller settlements of the Samara region on Saturday and Sunday the defense ministry said Russian troops struck the eastern city of Kramatorsk to avenge the soldiers killed in Makiivka They claimed to have killed more than 600 Ukrainian troops There was yet no comment on the strike from Ukraine Putin announced a partial mobilization to buttress Russian troops on the ground in Ukraine BBC Russian journalists used open-source data to verify the identities of 92 Russian soldiers killed in the strike Another 16 soldiers who were at the makeshift barracks in the eastern Ukrainian town at the time of the attack remain unaccounted for Russia’s Defense Ministry has conceded the deaths of 89 troops the highest single reported loss since Russia invaded Ukraine last year while blaming the soldiers for inadvertently giving away their location to Ukrainian forces Relatives cited by BBC Russian said most of the slain soldiers had been called up as part of President Vladimir Putin’s “partial” mobilization last fall.  They spent the following two months training in central Russia’s Samara region and were deployed to Makiivka on Dec less than a week before the Ukrainian attack Funerals for the mobilized soldiers in Makiivka began on Jan BBC Russian said more than 12,200 soldiers have been confirmed killed in the 11 months since they were ordered to invade Ukraine The Russian military last updated its death toll for the war in Ukraine in September 2022 when it said fewer than 6,000 soldiers had been killed in cooperation with the independent Mediazona news website social networks and media reports — in addition to volunteers who monitor cemeteries across scores of Russian towns and villages — to compile its tally of soldiers killed in Ukraine We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help. Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact. By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.  My NewsSign Out Sign InCreate your free profileSections news Alerts Ukrainian paratroopers from 80th Air Assault Brigade began a series of actions to secure a crossing point over the Zherebets River at the small settlement of Makiivka The single road bridge is next to the red brick Orthodox Church on the east bank of the village Makiivka itself is a typical Luhansk rural settlement comprising scattered dachas with large gardens The contested town of Svatove is roughly 25 kilometres to the north-east Kreminna is about 30 kilometres south-east of Makiivka The Russian defence of Luhansk currently hinges on these two towns but the copters immediately spotted us and just shot us Russian sources dismissed these claims which provoked protests from wives of the mobilised reservists outside the Voronezh prosecutor’s office One week after the announced capture of Makiivka, controversy was again ignited by two YouTube videos posted on Ukrainian media The first showed the surrender of around a dozen Russian soldiers four Ukrainian soldiers found the Russians taking shelter in a derelict house The Russian soldiers are seen to emerge from the house  The video ends violently when an assailant appears from the corner of the house and opens fire They are all dead (a total of 19 dead Russian soldiers can be counted in the environs of the house) a Russian soldier committed the act of perfidy and opened fire in the middle of the surrender The Ukrainian soldier with headcam filming the event was seriously wounded On 24 November, an eight-minute video appeared on Telegram Channel.  It was filmed by soldiers from 2nd Company, Battalion 1823 This separate mobik battalion was subordinate 15th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment The commander was an individual named Lieutenant- Colonel Teslia It has been the practice to muster mobilised reservists as separate battalions rather than integrate the reservists within ‘regular’ army units Five individuals speak (protest) in the video According to a soldier who introduces himself as Vladimir Gurin on 7 November the reservists were deployed near Maviivka Due to lack of liaison with neighbouring units they came under fratricidal attack by artillery and attack helicopters According to the reservists ‘the commanders abandoned them immediately at the start of the shelling.’ The foreman (Russian equivalent of a warrant officer) took charge of the situation and organised a retreat Eventually they took refuge in a three storey building in the village of Baranikovka Gurin charged they were equipped with ‘airsoft’ body armour and helmets (the game and tactical trainer) which they were able to pierce with knives They were deployed to a wood at 3am and told whoever got lost would be considered dead and left behind Setting to one side the controversial surrender incident the two mobik battalions tell the same story The mobilised reservists are poorly equipped and poorly led The battalions are not integrated with ‘regular’ army units but instead used piecemeal as cannon fodder to plug gaps Coordination and communications are poor leading to fratricidal incidents Entire orders of battle have been wiped out In the Donbass mining communities where the men come from these losses cannot help but have an effect on morale Morale may plummet even further in 2023 as a commission from the Russian Energy Ministry is drawing up plans to close the majority of Donbass mines at the beginning of 2023 on the grounds of ‘unprofitability’ Sixty-five percent of the mining industry manpower had already been mobilised Irregular electricity and water supply undermines the safe operation of remaining mines The entire industry is being propped up by Russian subsidies The props are about to be kicked away leaving the mobilised men without jobs to return to             ‘Simply put, the troops are fighting ‘by inertia’, not having the slightest idea of the final strategic goals of the current military campaign and only guessing about the vague plans of the command for such grandiose senseless gestures as the construction of a completely insane in uselessness (but wildly expensive in terms of cost of   execution) Surovikin Lines [a reference to the defence line on the Svatove-Kreminna axis]. For how long can this ‘inertia’ last?  Is Putin so sure he can decree a second partial mobilisation in the spring, which he will have to do to avoid open mutinies?  Can the Kremlin count on soldiers who do not understand why they are fighting and how it will end? This could be the portrait of mobilised Russian soldiers in 1917. Sergio Miller is a retired British Army Intelligence Corps officer.  He was a regular contributor and book reviewer forBritish Army Review.  He is the author of a two-part history of the Vietnam War (Osprey/Bloomsbury) and is currently drafting a history of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. new video loaded: Large Explosion in Russian-Occupied Makiivka The New Year's Day attack killed recently mobilised Russian soldiers sent by Moscow in what could be one of the deadliest known incidents involving Russian troops so far Ukraine’s military said up to 400 soldiers were killed in the city Pro-government Russians came out onto the streets of towns across Samara region Tuesday to mourn local soldiers killed in the Ukrainian city of Makiivka in a missile attack on New Year’s Eve Hundreds of pro-war Russians attended gatherings in the Volga river cities of Samara and Tolyatti, according to local media reports.   “I haven’t slept for 3 days, and Samara hasn’t slept… this is very difficult and scary, But we can’t be broken,” said female activist Yekaterina Kolotovkina in a speech to those who assembled in Samara, according to a video posted online.  The Russian Ministry of Defense said Monday that 63 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike on a vocational school being used as a temporary barracks in Makiivka making the attack one of the deadliest single incidents of the war so far.  But some fear the death toll could be even higher with pro-war bloggers suggesting the real total could be several hundred and the Ukrainian Armed Forces estimating 400 fatalities.  Tolyatti and other towns in the region were a rare public show of Russian grief and anger over the human toll of the invasion of Ukraine.  attendees appeared to come from pro-government groups with lots of flags from pro-Kremlin groups visible in photos including those from the ruling United Russia party.   Some 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara — where some of the servicemen came from — as an Orthodox priest recited a prayer Soldiers also fired a gun salute at the commemoration Russia has not officially released any details about those killed in Makiivka but they are believed to be men drafted as part of the country’s “partial” mobilization drive The governor of Russia’s Samara region said Monday that mobilized soldiers from Samara were among those killed.  “Grief unites us,” Kolotovkina “Together, we will destroy the enemy. We haven’t been given a choice. Neither us nor our husbands wanted war. But the West closed ranks against us,” she said, news outlet RBC reported.  The deaths of the Russian servicemen in Makiivka has sparked heavy online criticism in Russia of the army's senior command including from pro-war and nationalist commentators There have been reports that the soldiers were quartered next to a munitions depot which exploded in the strike and that some had been able to use their Russian mobile phones — giving away their location to Ukrainian forces "What conclusions will be drawn? Who will be punished?" Mikhail Matveyev, a member of the Russian parliament representing Samara, wrote on social media The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike was carried out by Himars rocket systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States The Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that over 500 Russian soldiers were killed and wounded in the occupied Kherson region.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to react to the Makiivka attack which come during a holiday season before Orthodox Christmas which many Russians spend with their families Ukrainian shelling that killed 89 recruits aided by mobiles switched on near frontlines Russia’s defence ministry on Wednesday blamed the use of mobile phones by its soldiers for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that killed dozens of conscripts, sparking anger among relatives of the soldiers. Commenting on the deadliest single incident Moscow has acknowledged since the start of the war that it said killed 89 servicemen, Lt Gen Sergei Sevryukov said in a video statement that a commission was working to investigate the circumstances of what had happened. “But it is already obvious that the main reason … was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons contrary to the ban,” he said, without providing evidence for the claim. The ministry also said in a statement that it would provide “all necessary help and support” to the families of the dead and punish those who allegedly were responsible for the incident. Read moreThe quick response by Russian officials who admitted mass casualties in Makiivka a day after the shelling will be seen as an attempt to defuse public anger The Kremlin has previously been accused of concealing information about the deaths of its soldiers Most notably, the reaction was in contrast to the sinking of the flagship cruiser Moskva last April when it took days for Moscow to admit that conscripts had died; and the Kremlin to this day does not acknowledge that the ship was hit by Ukrainian missiles Some of the relatives in the southern Russian city of Samara where many of the Makiivka conscripts came from criticised the defence ministry’s official version of events on Wednesday claiming the army was scapegoating their loved ones 1:22Russian mourners hold vigil for soldiers killed in Makiivka – video“It is easier to blame everything on our soldiers than to admit incompetence among our commanders I didn’t expect anything else,” said Maksim the brother of a soldier who was injured in Makiivka A number of social media groups have also sprung up with soldiers’ relatives gathering information and criticising the alleged lack of transparency from the authorities “Why haven’t they released the full list of deceased The fate of so many children remains unknown,” said one post on the social media network VK The ministry of defence statements on Wednesday also angered the pro-war nationalist correspondents who have gained influence in recent months a military blogger who recently received a medal from Putin said in a post on Telegram that while the use of mobile phones near the frontlines was “obviously” not a good thing “the story with ‘mobiles’ is not convincing” It is a blatant attempt to smear blame … The only real solution to prevent this in the future is to not place personnel en masse in big buildings.” He referred to the decision to use civilian infrastructure to house hundreds of soldiers Ukraine map showing controlled areasBut while there were calls on Wednesday by relatives and pro-war commentators to punish military officials deemed responsible for the events, there was little direct criticism of Vladimir Putin or of the war in general Instead, Maksim and others called for new attacks on Ukraine “We should strike them twice as hard to teach them a lesson,” Maksim said called for the victims of Makiivka to be avenged We are left with no choice,” she told about 200 mourners The deadly strike on the conscripts in Makiivka came amid warnings from Ukrainian officials that Russia was planning to order a second mobilisation drive for a new offensive said in his nightly video address on Tuesday: “We have no doubt that the current masters of Russia will throw everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat Any attempt at their new offensive must fail.” Ukraine received a boost late on Wednesday when French president Emmanuel Macron told Zelenskiy that the Paris government would send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to help in the war against Russia “This is the first time that western-made armoured vehicles are being delivered in support of the Ukrainian army,” a French official told journalists after the phone call between the two leaders The official did not give any details about the volume or timing of the planned shipments Zelenskiy on Twitter said that he had a “long and detailed conversation” with Macron thanking the French president for the “decision to transfer light tanks and Bastion APCs to Ukraine” About 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara Mourners have voiced grief and anger at a rare public commemoration in Russia for the scores of soldiers killed on New Year’s Eve Admitting its worst military losses from a single Ukrainian attack, Russia on Tuesday said 89 servicemen were killed when a temporary deployment point was struck in Makiivka, a town in the eastern region of Donetsk partially held by separatists since 2014. The strategic communications directorate of Ukraine’s armed forces claimed on Sunday that about 400 mobilised Russian soldiers were killed and about 300 more were wounded. That claim could not be independently verified. Read moreRussian bloggers say many of the victims were reservists recently mobilised into the army About 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara – where some of the servicemen came from – as an Orthodox priest recited a prayer where some of the mourners could be seen holding flags for the ruling United Russia party said she had asked her husband to “avenge” the victims 0:51Moment missile hits Kyiv on New Year’s Eve caught on newly released CCTV footage – video“We will crush the enemy together We are left with no choice,” she told mourners Similar gatherings were reported in other cities of the Samara region including Tolyatti a member of the Russian parliament representing Samara The vocational school reportedly housed recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow when it was hit on 1 January.On Wednesday Russia claimed the use of mobile phones by soldiers on New Year’s Eve had led to the deadly strike on Makiivka a commission is working to investigate the circumstances of what has happened,” Lt Gen Sergei Sevryukov said in a video statement released by the Russian defence ministry early Wednesday “But it is already obvious that the main reason … was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons contrary to the ban,” he said The ministry also suggested that as revenge for the attack it launched airstrikes at a “hardware concentration” near Druzhkivka railway station in Donetsk and destroying four Himars launchers and more than 800 rockets Reuters was not able to independently verify the report an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that two people were wounded in the attack on Druzhkivka The deaths in Makiivka sparked heavy criticism in Russia of the army’s senior command including from nationalist commentators favourable to the military’s intervention in Ukraine said hundreds could have been killed and accused Russia’s top commanders of incompetence There have also been reports that the servicemen were quartered next to a munitions depot which exploded in the strike said it was “criminally naive” for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters Putin had yet to react to the Makiivka strike which comes during a holiday season before Orthodox Christmas which many Russians spend with their families The defence ministry said the strike was carried out by Himars rocket systems supplied to Ukraine by the United States These systems have allowed Ukrainian forces to strike much deeper into Russian-held territory and have been credited for a series of battlefield reversals against Russia in recent months Ukraine said it had faced waves of Russian drone and missile attacks since New Year’s Eve mainly targeting energy and other critical infrastructure Zelenskiy said he had spoken by phone with the leaders of Britain Norway and the Netherlands and pointed to “the risks of escalation at the front” The hardest fighting is raging around the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine – a location with little strategic importance that Russian forces led by the mercenary group Wagner have been trying to capture for months admitted in an interview that the fighting was tough and claimed Ukrainian forces had turned “each house into a fortress” Prigozhin told state news agency RIA Novosti in the interview on Tuesday that his men were sometimes fighting “several weeks for a single house” Mission Statement: to assist the integration of foreign residents living in Spain and this is never more accurate than when you establish yourself as a foreign resident in a new country Being able to quickly familiarise yourself with the culture and customs can help ease the transition during a challenging time This is why Euro Weekly News makes it our mission to provide you with a free news resource in English that covers both regional and national Spanish news – anything that we feel you will benefit from knowing as you integrate into your new community and live your best life in Spain you can forget about translating articles from Spanish into awkward English that probably don’t make much sense Let us be your convenient and essential guide to all things that will likely affect you as a foreign resident living in Spain Three suspects have reportedly been detained by law enforcement officials this evening, Tuesday, December 27, after the murder of a family of eight people in the city of Makiivka Those arrested for the barbaric incident in Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) are suspected of being mercenaries belonging to the Wagner PMC law enforcement officers in hot pursuit detained three previously convicted residents of the Kalininsky micro-district The detainees “confessed that they committed the crime out of mercenary motives in order to steal a car and valuable property” the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic noted were attacked by individuals armed with machine guns who later fled in a car the local administration said in a statement on Telegram All of the victims were shot in the head, including the children, who were aged one, seven, and nine. Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol claimed that: “This crime was openly racist in nature since it was a family of gipsy ethnicity that have been murdered All the dead had bullet wounds to the head at point-blank range” Andriushchenko pointed out that the residents of Makiivka themselves reported that the crime had been committed by the military He added that he and his team spent “most of last night monitoring public sources and working with first-hand information and can state that this murder was committed by various monsters in military uniform.” “But the occupiers will cover up the Russians’ crime as they did all those committed in Mariupol a city now under Moscow’s control” He suggested that these crimes may continue as Russia has recruited “not human beings referring to the group of mercenaries and prisoners Moscow has freed to deploy to Ukraine with the Wagner PMC ___________________________________________________________ Thank you for taking the time to read this article. 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to our readers All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE Download our media pack in either English or Spanish by FELIPE DANA and JOANNA KOZLOWSKA | Associated Press Ukraine (AP) — The Russian military’s top brass came under increasing scrutiny Wednesday as more details emerged of how at least 89 Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian artillery attack on a single building The scene last weekend in the Russian-held eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka where the soldiers were temporarily stationed appears to have been a recipe for disaster Hundreds of Russian troops were reportedly clustered in a building close to the front line of the war well within range of the enemy’s Western-supplied precision artillery possibly sitting close to an ammunition store and perhaps unwittingly helping Kyiv’s forces to zero in on them It was one of the deadliest single attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago and the highest death toll in a single incident acknowledged so far by either side in the conflict Ukraine’s armed forces claimed the Makiivka strike killed around 400 mobilized Russian soldiers housed in a vocational school building It wasn't possible to verify either side's claims due to the fighting The Russian military sought to blame the soldiers for their own deaths a Research Fellow on Russia and Eurasia at the Royal United Services Institute in London told The Associated Press it is “very hard to verify” whether cellphone signaling and geolocation were to blame for the accurate strike She noted that Russian soldiers on active duty are forbidden from using their phones — exactly because there have been so many instances in recent years of their being used for targeting including by both sides in the Ukraine war The conflict has made ample use of modern technology She also noted that blaming the soldiers themselves was a “helpful narrative” for Moscow as it helps deflect criticism and steer attention toward the official cellphone ban Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to move the conversation along as he took part via video link in a sending-off ceremony Wednesday for a frigate equipped with the Russian navy’s new hypersonic missiles France said Wednesday it will send French-made AMX-10 RC light tanks to Ukraine The decision was made during an afternoon phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Wednesday The French presidency didn't say how many tanks would be delivered and when The NATO member has given Ukraine anti-tank and air defense missiles The weekend Makiivka strike seemed to be the latest blow to the Kremlin’s military prestige as it struggles to advance the invasion of its neighbor amid a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive As details of the strike have trickled out in recent days some observers detected military sloppiness at the root of so many deaths intelligence officials said Wednesday that Moscow’s “unprofessional” military practices were likely partly to blame for the high casualty rate on the troops the ministry said that the building struck by Ukrainian missiles was little more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the front line within “one of the most contested areas of the conflict,” in the partially Russian-occupied Donetsk region “The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate,” the update added initially said the strike killed 63 troops But as emergency crews sifted through the rubble of the building The regiment’s deputy commander was among the dead That stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the broader military campaign is being handled by the Ministry of Defense There are simply no other ways,” Tatarsky wrote in a Telegram post Others put the blame on the decision to station hundreds of troops in one place “The cellphone story is not too convincing,” military blogger Semyon Pegov wrote “The only remedy is not to house personnel en masse in large buildings Simply not to house 500 people in one place but spread them across 10 different locations.” Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilized reservists from the region of Samara The Institute for the Study of War saw in the incident further evidence that Moscow isn’t properly utilizing the reservists it began calling up last September said the Makiivka strike shows that the Russian army is more interested in growing its number of troops “That’s really how Russia conducts a lot of its warfare — by overwhelming the enemy with volume Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war Isabel joined Newsweek in 2021 and had previously worked with news outlets including the Daily Express You can get in touch with Isabel by emailing i.vanbrugen@newsweek.com or by following her on X @isabelvanbrugen Checks a specific statement or set of statements asserted as fact A video of Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu attending a party has gone viral on social media The clip was shared by several accounts on Twitter and Telegram, shortly after Russia confirmed that Ukrainian artillery struck a base in the occupied town of Makiivka in the eastern Donetsk region where hundreds of Russian recruits were stationed Russia's defense ministry said Monday, January 2, that Ukraine's rocket attacks at one of its bases in the occupied town of Makiivka in the eastern Donetsk region killed 63 soldiers and blamed the soldiers for exposing their location via mobile phones Several prominent Twitter and Telegram channels have shared the video featuring defense minister Sergei Shoigu alongside a group of guests and musicians who joined him on stage The 51-second video shows a smiling Shoigu dancing and singing in a crowd of people while holding a microphone to the cheers of onlookers He sings along with a live band and singers in an indoor setting an exiled Russian businessman and opposition activist "Can anyone confirm that this is footage from this year After the death of a significant part of the regiment mobilized in Makeevka then it's even worse than I could imagine..," Khodorkovsky the clip had been viewed more than 62,000 times Кто-то может подтвердить, что это съемка именно этого года? После гибели значительной части полка мобилизованных в Макеевке?Если да - то все еще хуже, чем я мог представить.. pic.twitter.com/wBxu73YD1l The same footage was also shared on Telegram by Ukrainian journalist Anatoly Shariy His post was viewed nearly 800,000 times at the time of writing The video circulated after Russia's defense ministry said on its official Telegram channel that the Ukrainian military fired six rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launch system and that two of the missiles were shot down by air defense systems Shortly after the video began to make the rounds on social media, BlackMirror, a Russian-language Telegram channel said that it had posted an old clip of Shoigu at 15:33 GMT on January 2 The channel claimed it was the original source of the clip and although Newsweek could not immediately corroborate this we have so far found no earlier posts with the video "Our whole BlackMirror team is laughing ))) We decided to share an OLD video of Shoigu singing the Moscow Nights [a Soviet pop song - Newsweek] ) Lot's of people picked it up without citing us and embarrassing themselves )))," the channel's administrators wrote Вот эта фотография от 1 января 2022 года. Шойгу в том же костюме, праздник видимо отмечали раньше. pic.twitter.com/rAm0XuWzhH Other Twitter users pointed out that in the video Shoigu appears to be wearing some of the same clothes including the "PutinTeam" branded denim jacket and jeans combo An article by Komsomolskaya Pravda, dated January 1 But there are some inconsistencies that stand in the way of conclusive verification it also appears that there is some kind of shiny badge visible on his left-hand chest pocket just below the "Putin team" label seen on the 2022 photo Finally, according to the article, the family picture was taken in Tuva, Shoigu's home republic in southern Siberia. But the video, at least according to the Telegram channels and media outlets that shared it, was filmed at "one of the most expensive restaurants in Moscow," though the exact location was not named The combination of these factors leaves several possibilities One is that the minister had gone to the party on New Year's Eve in 2021 then changed some of his clothes and took a flight home to Tuva It is also possible that the video was filmed not at the end of 2021 but at another time altogether (though that is contradicted by BlackMirror channel) and the partially-matching outfit was simply a coincidence it could also be that the video is indeed from this year's celebration during which the minister may have worn a similar outfit to that of the 2021/2022 party (but with a different top and shoes) Newsweek could not find sufficient evidence that dates the video and therefore the claim suggesting Shoigu was "partying" as a battalion of Russian troops was annihilated in a HIMARS strike remains unconfirmed Newsweek has reached out to Russia's Foreign and Defense Ministries for comment The claim that Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu attended a party as Russian soldiers were killed in a HIMARS strike in Makiivka is unverified While some channels have since its publication claimed that the video pre-dates the 2023 New Year celebrations (and could be a year old or more) there is no conclusive evidence to confirm this At one minute past midnight on 1 January, as Putin uttered the last words of his new year’s address Ukraine sent six Himars rockets into the Russian-occupied territory of Donetsk Four landed on a vocational school in the town of Makiivka which had been acting as a temporary Russian military base The domestic fallout for Russia is proving messy From the moment they announced news of the strike the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has made considerable efforts to downplay the death toll and pin the blame for the incident on the dead Russian soldiers themselves are the reason Ukraine knew where to find them the MoD said that 63 Russian personnel had been killed in the strike the Ukrainian army said that in fact nearly 400 soldiers had been killed The true number of soldiers killed is likely to remain unverified but it is safe to say the initial Russian figure was an underestimate Already a subscriber? 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Log in Russian families from the Volga region of Samara continue to bury loved ones who died in one of the most deadly single incidents of the Ukraine war as local anger simmers over the New Year’s Eve attack.  At least 89 Russian soldiers — mostly men drafted from Samara — were killed when Ukrainian rockets slammed into a temporary barracks in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Makiivka.  “His death opened our eyes — people are really being killed there,” Viktor Gorodnychy said of his relative Askhat Asimov The number of fatalities in Makiivka has not only prompted criticism from influential pro-Kremlin bloggers who accuse the country’s military leadership of incompetence but it has also fueled incomprehension and anger among families.  Asimov, who left behind a wife and two children, was buried last week in the small Samara region village of Sadovka to the sound of Russia's national anthem Dozens of people came to pay their last respects “Our tears were flowing and we could not even hold them back,” Gorodnychy both lived in the same village about 100 kilometers from the regional capital.  “I feel negatively toward the Russian authorities,” Gorodnychy added when asked who was to blame for his friend’s death Conscripted during Russia’s “partial” mobilization drive Asimov was sent to Makiivka 10 days before the attack “He didn't even get to fight,” Asimov’s cousin Aliya Kotova told local media Tuesday.  Asimov’s funeral is one of a steady trickle of military burials that have been held in the Samara region over the last week as the coffins of those who died in Makiivka are transported home and released to relatives.  At least a dozen men killed in Makiivka have so far been laid to rest in the region according to local media reports and statements by officials.  The village of Mirny, which has a population of just 7,000, has buried five men killed in the Makiivka strike, according to local Telegram group Protocol.Samara While Russia’s Defense Ministry has said 89 Russian soldiers were killed in the attack on New Year’s Eve — one of the most popular holidays in Russia and Ukraine — Kyiv has claimed about 400 Russian servicemen died Amid rumors that the real death toll could run into the hundreds, Alexei Vdovin, the military commissar of the Samara region, said Tuesday that the authorities would not publish a full list of those who were killed or injured “This is a job for foreign intelligence agencies to identify and conduct provocations against the relatives of servicemen,” Vdovin said in a video statement Along with the refusal to publish a list of victims the fallout from the Makiivka attack has also received little coverage from Russian state media Some relatives claimed they had been asked by officials to keep silent.  social media platform Vkontakte deleted a post written by one of his relatives about the death of Asimov One mobilized soldier, who said he was helping clear the debris in Makiivka, told independent media outlet Verstka last week that military commanders had prohibited the dissemination of any information about what happened “No one will say anything. They are silencing everyone,” another woman, whose relative survived the attack, told the BBC Russian Service on Wednesday over 52,000 people have signed the petition “Losses should not be underestimated and people should know who is alive and who is dead,” local activist Sergei Podsytnik those soldiers who brought a gun to the territory of Ukraine are in the wrong but relatives have the right to know what happened,” Podsytnik said Some relatives of those who were killed have also been upset by the Defense Ministry’s statement that mobile phones used by their servicemen allowed Kyiv to geolocate their positions and successfully target the troops in a vocational college building.   “I think it's nonsense,” Gorodnychy told The Moscow Times A relative of one Russian soldier killed in Makiivka said the men were using Ukrainian SIM cards to call their friends and relatives on New Year’s Eve.  “They threw away all Russian SIM cards back in [the southern Russian city of] Rostov, on the way to Makiivka, and then their commander took them to a special place where they bought Ukrainian SIM cards,” the relative told the BBC Russian Service Even if the Russian Defense Ministry figures do not downplay losses 89 deaths in Makiivka would make it the most fatalities in a single attack since President Vladimir Putin ordered tanks into Ukraine at the end of February.  “They want to send them again to the frontlines, without artillery support, without cover, — just like cannon fodder,” Yevgenita Kulikova, the wife of a mobilized soldier, wrote Monday under a post on Vkontakte about local funerals by Samara region Governor Dmitry Azarov.   “When will it end?” wrote Natalia Kostyukhina “Stop sending our men to the meat grinder.” A video that went viral Friday showing Ukrainian soldiers stomping Russian flags into the ground after liberating the village of Makiivka in the Luhansk region The Kyiv Post shared the video and tweeted that Makiivka and Herkivka had been liberated from the Russian army this week which was also posted by NEXTA TV in Belarus and gained nearly 50,000 views shows two Ukrainian soldiers smiling at the camera as they stood and lightly stomped on the flags Another soldier who appeared to be carrying a camera also stomped the flags into the dirt while filming fellow soldiers The Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the village of #Makiivka in #Luhansk Region. pic.twitter.com/AuJCIhg4IH Both villages are east of the Oskil River between Borova in the Kharkiv region Lyman in the Donetsk and Svatove in the Luhansk which also shared the video of the Ukrainian soldiers Recapturing both villages from Russian troops indicates that Ukrainian soldiers are continue to move south of Svatove an important district center in the Luhansk region Ukrainian forces are advancing through the south of the country as they head to Nova Kakhovka, according to the military blog MilitaryLand.net. Additionally, Ukraine's advances near an important area that supplies water for Crimea have posed a threat to Moscow's control of the peninsula it annexed in 2014 New Voice of Ukraine journalist Euan MacDonald wrote this week that Nova Kakhovka was "an important objective as it's at the head of the canal that supplies Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea with lots of its water." Late last month, Ukrainian forces liberated the village of Kupyansk-Vuzlovy and raised its flag in recognition of its success in the eastern counteroffensive "The village of Kupyansk-Vuzlovy in the Kharkiv region is liberated," the Ukainian Ministry of Defense tweeted "One of the largest railway stations in the east of Ukraine is located there The occupiers used it in their supply route The offensive in the Kharkiv region continues." As of September 25, only 6 percent of the Kharkiv region reportedly remained under Russian control deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine saying that a total of 454 settlements in Kharkiv had been liberated "Putin is showing no sign of reducing his goals and the people around him are either also completely inflexible or else they lack the power to change anything," Dmitry Gorenburg of the Center for Naval Analysis told Newsweek no matter how costly it becomes even for Russia itself." Newsweek reached out to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry for comment Russia this week admitted to its worst ever reported loss, after it said Ukraine forces struck a base in the occupied town of Makiivka in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian soldiers were stationed Russia's defense ministry said Monday that Ukraine rocket attacks one of its bases killed 63 soldiers The casualty count is the single largest incident loss Russia has recognized since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in Ukraine on February 24 In a rare admission, the ministry said on its official Telegram channel that the Ukrainian military fired six rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launch system and that two of the missiles were shot down by air defense systems The HIMARS systems have a longer range than other rockets in Ukraine's artillery and have been credited with turning the tide of the war and allowing Ukraine to better defend its territory against Russia "The relatives and friends of the dead servicemen will be provided with all the necessary assistance and support," the ministry said Ukrainian media meanwhile has estimated Russia's losses in the attack was in the hundreds 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 said on his Telegram channel that more than 200 Russians had been killed in the attack and many more may be buried in rubble 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.https://t.co/9zGYWVIvM1 pic.twitter.com/tJa0lM7X0h Twitter user Dmitri of the War Translated project an independent project concerned with translating various materials about the war "Girkin on Makiivka incident—hundreds of victims The building where they were housed also contained an ammunition cache and vehicle storage which is why the strike was so deadly," he wrote in a caption Newsweek has not been able to independently confirm the number of Russian casualties The Ukrainian strike on the base in Makiivka has generated "significant criticism of Russian military leadership," according to an assessment by the The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) "Russian MoD is likely attempting to deflect the blame for its poor operational security (OPSEC) on to Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) officials and mobilised forces but its vague acknowledgment of the strike nonetheless generated criticism towards the Russian military command," the U.S think tank said in its latest report on the war "Such profound military failures will continue to complicate Putin's efforts to appease the Russian pro-war community and retain the dominant narrative in the domestic information space." Ukraine's said late on Monday that up to 10 units of Russian military equipment "of various types" were destroyed as a result of the attack but that Russian personnel losses were still being clarified Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war the Ukrainian military launched a precision strike against a makeshift Russian barracks in the town of Makiivka in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the Ukrainians were able to pinpoint the makeshift barracks using cellular data Russian reservists based there had turned on their cell phones allowing Ukrainian military intelligence to pick up their location and pass the targeting data up the chain of command highly effective fire from US-provided M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems rained down on the target setting off explosions that Russia says were made more intense by the detonation of ammunition that had also been stored in the barracks building Russian lawmakers, military bloggers, and the troops' families have disputed the Kremlin's claim that the reservists' poor discipline got them killed but that account of the strike and of others like it illustrate a growing battlefield trend: the use of cell phones as sensors to find Cell phones can prove deadly in a war zone The signals and data they divulge can reveal troop positions and other information that could inform the enemy Cell phone photos are particularly dangerous where their location data can expose where and when they were taken Ukrainian military intelligence has been able to use the geolocation data in selfies posted by Russian troops to pinpoint their positions and establish their pattern of life allowing for precision strikes with long-range rockets Ukraine's ability to strike such targets has been greatly enhanced by HIMARS and M270 multiple launch rocket sytems, both supplied by the US, which have been the bane of Russian forces in Ukraine Ukrainians have used their cell phones to report on Russian military movements which could be evaluated using artificial intelligence "and then a human makes a decision" whether to attack those forces Cell phones have also provided accountability allowing observers to tally losses and to shed light on misdeeds The New York Times was able to identify members of a Russian paratrooper unit that was likely involved in killing civilians in Bucha because those paratroopers used the cell phones of slain civilians to make calls to Russia often using cell phone footage from the battlefield Open-source intelligence gleaned from civilian phones and commercial networks is "a force multiplier" that "offers alternative pathways for information to travel and sometimes goes beyond military communications which can be subject to jamming or disruption," Hockenhull said Using civilian infrastructure in such a way creates "ethical and moral" issues "but in the context of a war of national survival the Ukrainian public are incredibly committed to playing their part and providing the advantage to their decision makers." Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ) He is working toward a master's degree in strategy and cybersecurity at Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies A recent Ukrainian strike killed scores of Russian troops highlighting a series of command failures that put soldiers in a vulnerable position in the first place Moscow's response to the deadly incident has only made things worse and hasn't really addressed any of the problems that caused it.  Security experts told Insider that the incident highlighted Russia's "lack of skill at the tactical level," referring specifically to their inability to lead and safely house troops in a combat zone Moscow's response though has been to excuse command failures by blaming troops and fabricating revenge strikes Ukrainian forces used US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to strike Russian positions during the New Year holiday in Makiivka an occupied city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region Russia said that nearly 90 soldiers were killed in the attack — a rare disclosure of battlefield losses placed the death toll at a much higher figure of around 400 people These estimates could not be independently verified.    The attack sparked sweeping criticism and condemnation of Moscow's military leadership by prominent lawmakers They complained that the Kremlin placed troops near ammunition storage allowed them to use cellphones that emit location data and stationed them within firing range of Ukrainian weapons.  "Having that many military personnel that concentrated is kind of operational and tactical malpractice" on the part of command a fellow in the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies It's unclear if cellphones played a role in the strike it is unclear if Russian troops were explicitly told not to use their phones and did anyways Williams said one theme he's noticed with Russia's constant "screw-ups" is Moscow's "blaming down," where military leadership tends to buck-pass responsibility to those below This can be attributed to Russia's dependence on strong "top-down leadership," he said adding that there's no corps of non-commissioned officers which makes it difficult to instill good practices and behaviors.  "It's the soldier's fault because they were using their cellphones It's the soldier's fault because they were smoking or the ammunition depot blew up because of people smoking where they shouldn't be smoking," Williams said reflecting on the Russian leadership's blame game "The blame always seems to roll down to the bottom There never seems to be much accountability held at the top." Russian command failures that ultimately led to such a high death toll appear to have included the physical location where the troops were stationed — within firing range of Ukrainian weapons systems and near the storage of ammunition.  "The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia's high casualty rate," the ministry said a fellow with the defense program at the Center for a New American Security said that some elements of the incident can be attributed to declining Russian military morale and quality But another key aspect is the inherent "fog and friction" that comes with a prolonged war where decisions are made without too much forethought This has become a problem for Russian command "A huge part of military training is stalling that degradation in command and degradation in skill that happens as you become much more tired and weary," he added and military personnel have all reported no signs of casualties at the site.  Russian messaging on the "so-called revenge strike" shows that the government is "trying to put a positive spin on this for their population," Metrick said as Russian milbloggers expressed anger with Russian military leadership after it came out that Russia's claims were made up including as early as the attempted capture of Kyiv.  the Russians have "not always been very skillful" when fighting in Ukraine," Mark Cancian a retired US Marine Corps colonel and a senior advisor with the CSIS security program and that has come as a surprise to many given that Moscow's military underwent a number of reforms after the 2008 war with Georgia.  He said it's important to keep an eye on whether an incident like Makiivka happens again.  "If this is the last time we hear something like this maybe the Russians learned their lesson and took all the cellphones away then that means maybe they are not picking up and disseminating these war-fighting skills." 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