The Russian military says it has conducted a major strike on Ukrainian forces in retaliation for the New Year attack on a Russian barracks in Makiivka, Donetsk which marked one of the single deadliest days for Russian forces, and which set off a firestorm of criticism against the top chain of command.
Russia’s Defense Ministry (MoD) said Sunday that it eliminated over 600 Ukrainian troops in a "retaliation operation" in direct response to the "criminal attack" of a week ago. The MoD identified that the operation was conducted against the Ukrainian-held city of Kramatorsk in the Donbass. Photos are emerging from the site, but Ukrainian media is denying Moscow's claims of hundreds killed.
Last week's Makiivka barracks attack may have been Russia's single biggest loss of the war and was reportedly carried out by the Ukrainians using US-supplied HIMARS missile systems. Moscow's official death toll is 89 servicemembers killed, but some pro-Russian military bloggers are saying the true number is likely in the hundreds. Kiev advanced that over 300 were killed in the strike.
It triggered rare internal Kremlin criticism of top Russian command, given hundreds of Russian conscripts were not well protected, and given there appeared widespread use of cell phones and open-source communications on the make-shift base which allowed the Ukrainians to pin-point the location. Officially, Russian commanders are blaming the troops for not observing protocols regarding cell phone usage and unapproved communication restrictions.