The Russian military said on Sunday it fired deadly missiles at Ukrainian military barracks in retaliation for the deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers in a rocket attack last week. Authorities in Ukraine, however, denied that 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 Donetsk region, killing 600 of them. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the strikes were a response to Ukraine’s attack on Makiivka, which killed 89 Russian soldiers.
Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, told theAssociated Press that the Russian strikes on Kramatorsk only damaged civilian infrastructure, adding that the Ukrainian armed forces were not affected.
Fighting continues across the country, and the Donetsk regional administration said seven Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk and two more hit Konstantynivka, with no casualties. Authorities said an educational institution, an industrial facility and garages were damaged in Kramatorsk, and an industrial zone was hit in Kostyantynivka.
According to the mayor of Kramatorsk, Oleksandr Honcharenko, two school buildings and eight apartment buildings were hit by the strikes.
In the early hours of the new year, Ukrainian forces launched rockets at a facility in Makiivka, also in the eastern region of Donetsk, where Russian soldiers were stationed. The attack, one of the deadliest against Kremlin forces since the start of the war, left dozens dead.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian army claimed to have struck a residence of a medical university in Rubizhne, a town in the eastern region of Lugansk occupied by the invader, killing 14 Russian soldiers who were staying there. However, the number of injured remains unknown.
Elsewhere in the east, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was killed in strikes on Bakhmut, and eight others were injured.
Northeast of Kharkiv, the town of Merefa was hit overnight, killing one person. Two other camps in the area were also bombed, Governor Oleh Syniehubov added.
These latest developments come after Russian forces ended a partially respected ceasefire, which had been planned to coincide with Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Saturday.