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Russia suffered one of its worst losses of the war at the exact moment Vladimir Putin was delivering his televised New Year’s speech, it was revealed today.
Dozens and perhaps hundreds of soldiers mobilized by Putin were killed in an attack by Ukrainian HIMARs on a barracks in Russian-occupied Makiivka in the eastern Donbas region minutes before midnight on December 31 as Russian missiles and drones rained down on Kyiv.
There have been conflicting claims about the losses. Ukraine’s military command puts the Russian death toll at up to 400, with 300 wounded, while Moscow sources suggested figures in the low tens but admitted heavy loss of life.
Initially it was impossible to verify the conflicting claims, but it is clear to both sides that Putin has suffered a heavy blow and is the latest in a growing list of embarrassments suffered by Moscow’s militaries since the February 24 invasion.
Dozens and perhaps hundreds of soldiers mobilized by Putin were killed in an attack by Ukrainian HIMARs on a barracks in Russian-occupied Makiivka, in the eastern Donbas region, minutes before midnight on December 31. Pictured: Rubble is seen after the attack.
Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his New Year’s speech on December 31. As he did so, Ukraine launched a missile attack, reportedly killing hundreds of Russian soldiers.
The incident came to light on Sunday, but it is the scale of the deaths that both sides have revealed today.
Russian commanders were among the dead, the reports say.
Staunchly pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoly Shariy posted in dismay: “There are SEVERAL HUNDRED dead in Makiivka.”
He sarcastically added, “Someone clever put them all together in one place.”
Russian pro-war sources said two HIMAR missile strikes hit the barracks in Makiivka, while the Moscow-installed administration of Ukraine’s Donetsk region said on Sunday at least 25 rockets were fired into the region overnight. New year.
The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In his daily report on Sunday, he claimed that he had destroyed seven HIMARS rockets, including in the Makiivka area.
A dramatic video posted online from the night of the attack shows a family watching Putin’s speech on a smartphone as they prepare to eat a traditional New Year’s meal just before midnight.
A woman stands on the balcony of her residential block and returns screaming in terror when an incoming attack targets a nearby building, later revealed to be a vocational school that was turned into a barracks to house Russian forces.
From another location, a Ukrainian video showed a soldier wearing a festive Santa hat as a HIMAR missile was launched at the time of the Makiivka attack. The HIMAR rocket system behind it has been decorated with Christmas lights.
Pictured: Dramatic video posted online from the night of the attack showed a family watching Putin’s speech on a smartphone as they prepared to eat a traditional New Year’s meal just before midnight. A woman on the balcony ran inside as the attack hit its targets.
Pictured: Video from elsewhere shows a Ukrainian soldier wearing a festive Santa hat as a HIMAR missile is launched at the time of the Makiivka attack. The HIMAR rocket system behind it has been decorated with Christmas lights.
‘According to various sources, we can speak of 50 to 70 people [dead] at this time. The building is completely destroyed,” reported the Gray Zone outlet, which is linked to Putin’s close ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner’s private army.
‘Of course, we are not talking about 500 to 600 dead, this is the enemy’s propaganda. But there were still over 100 people in the building, roughly 120-150. Even our most positive channels evasively refer to the losses as “significant, large and heavy.”
Another Russian account said: ‘There were deaths and injuries, the exact number is still unknown. The building itself was badly damaged.
The dead were reported to be mobilized Russian troops from the Saratov region who had been stationed in Makiivka, in the Moscow-occupied Donetsk region.
More images appear to show the body of a woman near a road in Makiivka.
And the videos highlight the total destruction of school facilities where Russian mobilized forces were reportedly garrisoned.
Pictured: The aftermath of the HIMAR missile attack is seen in Russian-occupied Makiivka
Romanov Light Channel said that ammunition was also detonated in the barracks, “hence such destruction.”
Military blogger Boris Rozhin spoke of “a considerable number of dead and wounded.”
Previous reports had said that there were four dead and around 50 wounded.
The Ukrainian source Obozrevatel said that HIMARS had destroyed “hundreds of invaders”. ‘The death toll is still unknown: according to various estimates, there were between 150 and 700 occupants at the base during the attack, most of whom were allegedly mobilized from Saratov.
“According to the Strategic Committee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 400 Russian soldiers were killed and about 300 wounded.”
Daniil Bezsonov, a senior Russian-backed official in Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk region, said there was a strike at a vocational school that preliminary information said served as accommodation for military personnel.
The attack, Bezsonov said, occurred two minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day.
‘The American vocational school MLRS HIMARS was hit hard. There were deaths and injuries, the exact number is still unknown,” Bezsonov said on the Telegram messaging app. The building itself was badly damaged.
Pictured: A HIMAR rocket system is shown launching a missile (file photo)
Locals told Obozrevatel that Russian soldiers at the scene of the carnage had said that senior commanders were among the dead. The Russians were looking for the ‘traitors’ who had revealed the location of the barracks.
Russian pro-war sources angrily criticized the commanders for herding so many soldiers in one place, making them a clear target for attack.
The attack was just 115 miles from where Putin allegedly prerecorded his New Year’s message with dozens of troops in Russia’s Rostov region.
Putin drank Russian Champagne with troops to toast the coming of 2023 after he told Russians in his annual televised address that “moral and historical” justice was on their side.
The West was “cynically using Ukraine and its people to weaken and divide Russia,” he claimed.
Another video shows mobilized Russian men leaving Saratov in November.
These new recruits were reportedly among those in the affected barracks.
The Christmas music and decorations in the video of the Ukrainian missile launch are because the Russians mark the festive season as midnight on the New Year, instead of December 25.