Sixty-three Russian troops have been killed in missile strikes conducted by the Ukrainian forces in Russian-controlled Makiivka town located in a part of the Donetsk region, VOA reported.
According to the American medium, the unusual casualty announcement by Russia’s Defense Ministry came as Russia continued its barrage of air attacks on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. However, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said all 40 drones targeting the city and its environs had been shot down.
It also reported that Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that Ukraine hit the Makiivka site with four of the six rockets fired from the precision High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that the United States has dispatched to Ukraine’s forces, though its forces had shot down two of the incoming missiles.
Reports also noted that the Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces claimed on Sunday that about 400 Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka, and about 300 more were injured.
A senior Russian-installed official in the Moscow-controlled parts of the Donetsk region, Daniil Bezsonov, said in the attack scores were killed and wounded, but the exact number is still unknown.
The deadly attack, described by many international affairs commentators and security experts as a major blow to Putin’s forces, came 314 days since Russian troops invaded Ukraine.