Russia has conceded its worst military casualties since the start of the war in Ukraine in an attack on New Year’s Eve. Officials say 89 soldiers were killed in Makiivka in eastern Ukraine. Here’s what we know.
What happened in Makiivka?
On Monday, Russia’s Defense Ministry made an extremely rare announcement, acknowledging that 63 Russian soldiers were killed in a strike in Makiivka, a small town in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region that has been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Russian and Ukrainian sources began covering the strike on Sunday, saying mobilized Russian personnel — not professional soldiers — had been killed.
A senior Russian military official, Lt. Gen. Sergei Sevryukov, said Ukraine hit a temporary base in Makiivka with a US-supplied Himars missile system at 00:01 local time on Jan. 1.
On Wednesday, the ministry said the toll rose to 89 after more bodies were discovered.
Satellite images taken by the US company Planet Labs on December 20 and January 2 show the aftermath of Ukraine’s attack on the Russian-held town of Makiivka. The vocational school was reportedly housing recently mobilized troops dispatched from Moscow when it was hit on January 1. Satellite images taken by the US company Planet Labs on December 20 and January 2 show the aftermath of Ukraine’s attack on the Russian-held town of Makiivka. The vocational school was reportedly housing recently mobilized troops dispatched from Moscow when it was hit on January 1.
It is the largest loss of life from a single attack that Moscow has acknowledged since its invasion began in February.
The incident was also the first report of any military deaths since September, when Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu put the number of Russian soldiers killed to date at 5,937.
What are the Ukrainians saying?
The Strategic Communications Department of the Ukrainian Army said nearly 400 soldiers were killed and 300 injured in the strike in Makiivka, but that number has not been independently confirmed.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said there had been no final surrender and announced that “up to 10 units of enemy military equipment” had been destroyed.
Why were there so many deaths?
Russia’s military leaders blamed the high number of casualties on the use of mobile phones by their soldiers.
Sevryukov said the army determined that the reason for the high death toll was “the turning on and massive use of mobile phones by personnel within range of enemy weapons.” He provided no evidence for this claim.
Ukrainian forces simply said there was a “concentration” of soldiers in Makiivka.
Former separatist commander Igor Strelkov, who is familiar with the situation on the ground, said the building was “almost completely” destroyed because ammunition stored on the site exploded during the strike.
He said “hundreds” were killed and wounded.
There were also reports that the soldiers were quartered next to the ammunition depot that exploded. A well-known Russian military blogger said it was “criminally naïve” for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters.
Pictures from the site of the strike in Makiivka show buildings completely reduced to rubble. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/PortalWhat was the reaction in Russia?
The announcement of the large number of casualties in Russia caused shock and criticism of the Russian high command, which was already humiliated by a series of battlefield defeats.
“Despite several months of war, some conclusions have not yet been drawn,” criticized the blogger Boris Rozhin, who is close to the separatists, of the “incompetence” of the Russian military leadership.
Alexander Kots, a war correspondent, wrote: “Why are we still holding out [mobilised personnel] in hotels, hostels and vocational schools?”
Strelkov said another fatal blow could come “at any moment”, adding that Russian generals are “not trainable”.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War predicted that Russia’s defense ministry would seek to “shift the blame for its poor operational security” on local officials and mobilized personnel.
In a rare public memorial, about 200 people gathered in the Russian city of Samara – where some of the victims were from – to commemorate the dead.
Mourners laid flowers at a city monument, an Orthodox priest recited a prayer for the dead and soldiers fired a gun salute.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report