Claim of attack in Ukraine disputed
KYIV, Ukraine — The Russian military claimed Sunday to have carried out deadly missile strikes on barracks used by Ukrainian troops in retaliation for the deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers in a rocket attack a week ago. Ukrainian officials denied there were any casualties.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its missiles hit two temporary bases housing 1,300 Ukrainian troops in Kramatorsk, in the eastern region of Donetsk, killing 600 of them.
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the strikes were retaliation for Ukraine’s attack in Makiivka, in which at least 89 Russian soldiers died.
Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told the Associated Press that Russian strikes on Kramatorsk damaged only civilian infrastructure, adding: “The armed forces of Ukraine weren’t affected.”
The Donetsk regional administration said seven Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk and two more hit Kostyantynivka, without causing any casualties. It said an educational institution, an industrial facility and garages were damaged in Kramatorsk, and an industrial zone was hit in Kostyantynivka.
Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said two school buildings and eight apartment houses were damaged.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, Ukrainian forces fired rockets at a facility in Makiivka, also in the Donetsk region, where Russian soldiers were stationed, killing dozens of them in one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago.
Also Sunday, the Ukrainian military said it hit a residential hall of a medical university in Rubizhne, a town in the Russian-occupied eastern region of Luhansk, killing 14 Russian soldiers housed there. The number of wounded was unknown, it said.
Elsewhere in the east, Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was killed in strikes on Bakhmut, and eight others were wounded.
In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, the town of Merefa was hit during the night, killing one person, and two other settlements in the region were shelled, Gov. Oleh Sinegubov said.