According to its military, Ukraine has killed or wounded at least 500 Russian soldiers in two devastating airstrikes in Kherson.
The full-scale attack on a farm in Chulakivka was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, adding to the numerous deaths in Makiivka, Donetsk region, on December 31.
In another new attack, Ukraine is said to have struck a recreational facility called Grand Prix, used by Russian military occupiers, including special forces from the GRU military intelligence agency.
Moscow has so far admitted 63 deaths at its Makiivka barracks, but Russian sources have said the toll is higher.
Ukraine is believed to have struck a recreational facility called Grand Prix used by Russian military occupiers (pictured)
The extent of any losses is not yet clear here.
Russian pro-war channels have accused a Moscow volunteer Petr Lozhkovy of openly posting images of the base which they claim led to a Ukrainian HIMARS missile attack.
It is known that the 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade of the Russian GRU stayed here.
The attack in Chulakivka – with hundreds of alleged victims – took place on a farm, according to some reports.
In Makiivka, Russians are using DNA evidence to identify those killed in the strike, which took place at a vocational school used as a barracks for mobilized men, just as Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s message was broadcast.
The site was used by Russian military occupiers, including special forces from the GRU military intelligence service
Russian pro-war channels have accused a Moscow volunteer, Petr Lozhkovy, of openly posting images of the base
It is known that the 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade of the Russian GRU stayed here
Human remains are still being pulled from the rubble of the December 31 attack and the official casualty toll is expected to rise.
Ukrainian sources have speculated that there were 400 deaths of mobilized men.
An unofficial Russian toll agency today said 312 had died and 157 injured.
It was one of the deadliest attacks on Kremlin forces since the war began more than a decade ago.
In the attack, Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system, two of which were shot down, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
WarGonzo Channel said today that the National Guard’s SOBR special forces were among the dead.
It is now clear that many of the victims came from the Samara region and not from Saratov, as was said yesterday.
Cities in mourning included Tolyatti, Novokuybyshevsk and Syzran, as well as the capital, Samara.
Putin-appointed governor of the Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, confirmed: “Our compatriots were attacked by enemy forces.
‘There are wounded, oh, there are dead.
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the before and after scene at Makiivka on December 20th and January 2nd
“At the moment the information is being clarified.”
A desperate campaign to collect clothing for survivors has been launched.
Locals are asked to give T-shirts, underwear and socks for the wounded, believed to be in a Rostov-on-Don hospital.
About 130 sleeping bags were collected for survivors.
Meanwhile, Russia is preparing to step up its attacks on Ukraine with exploding Iranian-made drones, according to the Ukrainian president, while Moscow looks for ways to keep the pressure on Kyiv.
“We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack by shaheds (exploding drones),” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his late-night video address late Monday.
Debris litters the ground after the airstrike in Russian-held Makiivka in the eastern Donbass region. The rockets hit a vocational school that had been converted into barracks for Russian forces
He said the goal is to break Ukraine’s resistance by “depleting our people, (our) air defenses, our energy,” more than 10 months after Russia invaded its neighbor.
Vladimir Putin appears to be looking for ways to revive his ailing war effort, which has been undermined in recent months by a Ukrainian counter-offensive backed by Western weapons.
This has led to sharp criticism of the military’s performance in some Russian circles.
For the Russian military, Iran-made exploding drones are a cheap weapon that also spreads fear among troops and civilians. The United States and its allies have fallen out with Iran over Tehran’s role in allegedly supplying Moscow with drones.
The Institute for the Study of War said Putin is trying to bolster support for his strategy among key voices in Russia.
“Russia’s air and missile campaign against Ukraine is unlikely to generate the information impact the Kremlin wants among Russia’s nationalists,” the think tank said late Monday.
“Such profound military failures will further complicate Putin’s efforts to mollify Russia’s pro-war community and maintain the dominant narrative in the domestic information space,” she added.
Zelenskyy warned that “the nights could get pretty restless” in the coming weeks.
He added that the country’s armed forces shot down more than 80 Iranian-made drones in the first two days of the new year, which were marked by relentless night-time drone strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.
In addition to hoping to wear down resistance to the Russian invasion, the long-range bombing has targeted the power grid, exposing civilians to the mercy of the biting winter weather as power outages sweep the country.
“Every drone shot down, every missile shot down, every day of power for our people and minimal shutdown plans are just such victories,” Zelenskyy said.
In recent fighting, two people were injured in an overnight Russian missile attack on the town of Druzhkivka in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region, Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported on Tuesday.
Officials said the attack destroyed an ice hockey arena billed as Ukraine’s largest ice hockey and figure skating school.
Russian shelling was also reported overnight from the northeastern Kharkiv region and the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
In the recently recaptured areas of the southern Kherson region, two people were killed and nine others injured in Russian shelling on Monday, Ukrainian Kherson Governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Tuesday. He said Russian forces fired on the city of Kherson 32 times on Monday.