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The Ukrainian strike on a Russian base in Makiivka, Donetsk, has generated “significant criticism of Russian military leadership” according to a recent report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
In its latest update, the US thinktank said:
Russian MoD is likely attempting to deflect the blame for its poor operational security (OPSEC) onto Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) officials and mobilised forces, but its vague acknowledgment of the strike nonetheless generated criticism towards the Russian military command.
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.”
Makiivka attack sparks renewed criticism in Russia
A number of prominent Russian pro-war bloggers and commentators acknowledged the attack on Makiivka, with many suggesting the number of casualties was higher than the figures officially reported.
“What happened in Makiivka is horrible,” wrote Archangel Spetznaz Z, a 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, he said. “Each mistake has a name.”
The attack 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.”
Vladlen Tatarsky, 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”, in a post on Telegram.
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.
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.
Ukraine says enemy equipment destroyed in Makiivka attack
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has said up to 10 units of Russian military equipment of various types in occupied Makiivka were damaged or destroyed in a statement published late on Monday.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
But its military reported the Makiivka attack as “a strike on Russian manpower and military equipment”.
On December 31, up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged” in the town of Makiivka in the eastern region of Donetsk.
It said the human “losses” were still being established.
Ukraine’s military command initially claimed up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the incident in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
“Santa packed about 400 corpses in bags,” a statement from Ukraine’s department of strategic communications of the armed forces read on Sunday.
Russia’s defence ministry gave a much lower figure and in a rare admission on Monday claimed 63 Russian soldiers died in the strike, the biggest loss of life reported by Moscow so far.
The ministry said four US-supplied Himars missiles struck “a temporary deployment facility”.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.
Following the deadly strike on the Russian-occupied city of Makiivka on New Year’s Day, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said up to 10 units of Russian military equipment in the Donetsk city were damaged or destroyed in a statement published late on Monday. Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine. But its military reported the Makiivka attack as “a strike on Russian manpower and military equipment”.
Ukraine’s military command initially claimed up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the incident in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russia’s defence ministry gave a much lower figure, claiming 63 Russian soldiers died in the strike, the biggest loss of life reported by Moscow so far. The Guardian has been unable to confirm an official number of casualties.
As Ukraine reels from a series of devastating strikes aimed at its key infrastructure this week, its president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned of further attacks to come. In his latest Monday night address, Zelenskiy said Russia plans a protracted campaign of attacks with Iranian drones to “exhaust” the war-torn country.
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If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said up to 10 units of Russian military equipment of various types in occupied Makiivka were damaged or destroyed. “On December 31, up to 10 units of enemy military equipment of various types were destroyed and damaged” in the town of Makiivka in the eastern region of Donetsk, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement published late on Monday. It said the human “losses” were still being established.
The attack on Makiivka killed dozens of recently mobilised troops sent by Moscow, in what could be one of the deadliest known incidents involving Russian conscripts so far. Ukraine’s military command said up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the incident in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, but this claim was not independently verified. Russia’s defence ministry said 63 Russian soldiers died when Ukraine hit “a temporary deployment facility” with four US-supplied Himars missiles.
Satellite images taken by US-based company Planet Labs that purportedly showing the aftermath of the strike on Makiivka have circulated online, showing the building that allegedly housed the Russian troops before and after it was hit. The images, dated 2 January, show a building almost completely razed to the ground. Unverified footage posted online of the aftermath of the blast also showed a huge building reduced to smoking rubble.
Several waves of Russian drones targeted critical infrastructure in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and surrounding areas early on Monday morning. Debris from a destroyed drone hit Kyiv’s northeastern Desnianskiy district, wounding a 19-year-old man who was later taken to hospital, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said. Energy infrastructure facilities in the city were damaged, causing power and heating outages.
Ukraine claims to have destroyed 40 Russian drones heading for Kyiv on Sunday night, with 15 destroyed over neighbouring regions, three in the Kyiv region and 22 directly over the capital. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the country’s forces have shot down more than 80 drones since the start of 2023.
Russia is planning a protracted campaign of attacks with Iranian drones to “exhaust” Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned in his Monday night address. “It is probably banking on exhaustion. Exhausting our people, our anti-aircraft defences, our energy.” Ukraine, he said, had to “act and do everything so that the terrorists’ fail in their aim, as all their others have failed.”
Zelenskiy said he expects the first tranche of EU macro-financial aid to arrive in January after speaking to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen on Monday. Zelenskiy thanked Von der Leyen for her support, adding the €18bn ($19bn) worth of financial assistance “is extremely important right now, when Russia is trying to gather new forces for aggression”.
Ukraine and the European Union will hold a summit in Kyiv on 3 February to discuss financial and military support, Zelenskiy’s office said in a statement on Monday. “The parties discussed expected results of the next Ukraine-EU summit to be held on 3 February in Kyiv and agreed to intensify preparatory work,” the statement read.
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