Posted on 01/02/2023 9:52:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Russia acknowledged on Monday that scores of its troops were killed in one of the Ukraine war's deadliest strikes, drawing demands from nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers alongside an ammunition dump.
Russia's defence ministry said 63 soldiers had died in the fiery blast which destroyed a temporary barracks in a former vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk.
It said the accommodation had been hit by four rockets fired from U.S.-made HIMARS launchers, claiming two rockets had been shot down. Kyiv said the Russian death toll was in the hundreds, though pro-Russian officials called this an exaggeration.
Russian military bloggers, many with hundreds of thousands of followers, said the huge destruction was a result of storing ammunition in the same building as a barracks, despite commanders knowing it was within range of Ukrainian rockets.
Separately, Ukraine said on Monday it had shot down all 39 drones Russia had launched in an unprecedented third straight night of air strikes against civilian targets in Kyiv and other cities.
Ukrainian officials said their success proved that Russia's tactic in recent months of raining down air strikes to knock out Ukraine's energy infrastructure was increasingly a failure as Kyiv beefs up its air defences.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Unverified footage posted online of the aftermath of the Makiivka strike on the Russian barracks showed a huge building reduced to smoking rubble.
Igor Girkin, a former commander of pro-Russian troops in east Ukraine who has emerged as one of the highest profile Russian nationalist military bloggers, said the death toll was in the hundreds, later editing his post to include wounded in that figure. Ammunition had been stored at the site and Russian military equipment there was uncamouflaged, he said.
Another nationalist blogger, Rybar, said around 70 soldiers were confirmed dead and more than 100 wounded.
Nothing will happen unless and until the Russian people kill Putin themselves. He’s not a guy who is going to change his mind just because other people are dying.
Tragic loss.
Not debating the numbers, but putting that many troops under a roof…in proximity to ammo storage is criminally negligent. Who does that?
And much of this sort of stupidity could be avoided if Russia had a real professional NCO Corps instead of relying on junior officers. “Excuse me Comrad Captain, but billeting our troops next to ammo dump is not wise move.”
Clean hit, have to give the NATO credit for that one (took long enough to round up the HIMARS missiles). I suspect that the Russians will be more careful going forward.
Don’t invade a sovereign nation and that sovereign will not blast your troops housed at an ammo dump.
Since this war began, have more Russian soldiers died or more Americans from drugs and illegal immigrant criminals?
How much have we spent on each?
Russia! Their commanders have always had contempt for their own infantry. In WWII, in Afghanistan and in Ukraine.
Why don’t you behave more respectfully? Your comments are childish.
Putinista Russia is doomed by vodka and stupidity. Get out of Ukraine, you idiots!
Be sure to keep handiwipes close by for your monitor, troll lover.
Ukraine needs more strikes inside of Russia
I just spent 1/2 hour perusing this and other Ukraine success at a twitter feed.
It was reported ammunition was under the main hall where soldiers were grouped listening to Putin’s New Year’s message. There were also military supplies undisguised around the outer walls. HIMARS hit and exploded the ammunition causing a huge disaster, both inside and around the building. While many bodies were still unrecovered under the rubble, it was estimated around 200 killed and 300 wounded.
I wonder how easy it was for Ukraine patriots to cell photo this site for Ukraine army information purposes and plans? There were also other twitter reports of bombing of another east Ukraine city, a long name beginning with B. I wonder if these 2 sites were part of the 6 or 7 names, including Moscow and St. Petes which were reported last night as having explosions?
The old Soviet system was quite inflexible. Junior officers and NCOs were not encouraged to think on their own. Follow your orders exactly as they are written, comrade.
I wonder if today’s Russian Army is the same.
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