Russia claims to have killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in a missile attack

(Reuters) – Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday it had killed more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a massive missile attack on two buildings in eastern Ukraine temporarily housing Ukrainian forces.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Defense Ministry’s confirmation. There was no immediate comment on the Russian allegations from Ukraine, although the mayor of Kramatorsk, Russia’s eastern Ukrainian town, said earlier Sunday on Facebook that no one was killed in an attack on various buildings in the city.

Russia’s defense ministry said the strike on buildings in Kramatorsk was in retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian attack earlier this year on a Russian barracks in Makevka, in a part of the Donetsk region controlled by Russian forces, in which at least 89 servicemen were killed.

The ministry said in a statement that it had used what it described as reliable intelligence to target Ukrainian forces. It said more than 700 Ukrainian soldiers were housed in one hostel and more than 600 in another.

The Ministry of Defense said: “As a result of a massive missile strike on temporary deployment points of units of the Ukrainian army, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed.”

If true, this would be the largest single loss for Ukrainian forces since the Russian invasion on February 24 last year.

Written by Andrew Osborne; Edited by Frank Jack Daniel

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