Russia’s defense ministry has claimed it killed more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a massive rocket attack on two buildings in eastern Ukraine that were temporarily housing Ukrainian forces.
Key points:
- The Kremlin says the attack was revenge for a Ukrainian missile attack last week that killed dozens of Russian servicemen.
- Russia’s defense ministry said it used what it called reliable intelligence to target Ukrainian troops
- Ukraine has not commented, but a local mayor of the city said no one had been killed during the strikes in the city.
There was no immediate comment on the Russian claim to Ukraine.
However, the mayor of Kramatorsk, the eastern Ukrainian city Russia said it had targeted, said on Facebook earlier Sunday that no one had been killed in an attack on several buildings in the city.
Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday’s attack on buildings in Kramatorsk was in retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian attack last week on a Russian barracks in Makiivka, a part of the Donetsk region held by the forces of Moscow, in which at least 89 soldiers died.
In that attack, Ukraine said up to 400 Russians were killed.
The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that it had used what it called reliable intelligence to target Ukrainian troops.
He said more than 700 Ukrainian soldiers had been housed in one hostel and more than 600 in another.
“As a result of a massive missile attack on these points of temporary deployment of Ukrainian army units, more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed,” the Defense Ministry said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the defense ministry’s claim, and Sky News UK reported that military sources in Donetsk had rejected the Russian claim.
If true, it would be the biggest loss of Ukrainian troops since Russia invaded on February 24 last year.
Reuters