(Republicaninformer.com)- According to media reports, Ukraine’s defense ministry confirmed Monday that its forces struck a schoolhouse in the occupied Donbas region, killing dozens of recently enlisted Russian servicemen.
The Ukrainian defense ministry claimed it attacked a building in Makiivka, in the occupied Donetsk region, that served as a base for fresh Russian conscripts, using a HIMARS rocket system supplied by the United States. In a statement to state-run media, Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed that 63 soldiers died; the outlet reported the total number of dead and injured is believed to be in the hundreds.
According to Radio Free Europe, the Russian defense ministry reported that 63 Russian servicemen were killed due to a four-missile attack with a high-explosive warhead on a temporary deployment point.
Social media sites saw videos of the strike that showed the Makiivka barracks in ruins.
According to the WSJ, Rybar, a pro-Russian news and analysis Telegram channel, reported that 70 people died and more than 100 were injured.
An English translation of Igor Girkin’s Telegram post reveals that the nationalist war monitor lamented the strike and claimed that “the number of dead and wounded goes into many hundreds.” Girkin was a former military commander of pro-Russian forces in Crimea. According to Girkin, the facility also housed ammo caches and shoddy defense equipment.
He added that it’s possible that the four HIMARS rocket attacks on munitions stockpiles caused a giant explosion that destroyed the barracks.
The Ukrainian defense ministry estimated 700 casualties, including 300 fatalities, but made no explicit claims of responsibility for the attack.
The strike occurs as the war gets worse throughout the winter. For the third day in a row, Moscow sent a fleet of armed drones to attack Ukraine overnight, and according to the WSJ, the Ukrainian defense ministry claimed to have shot down 39 of them.
According to the WSJ, up to 300,000 Russian soldiers are preparing to join the conflict. According to Ukrainian media, the foreign minister of Ukraine has stated that a new offensive is anticipated to start in early 2023.
