Russia Claims 600 Ukrainian Troops Killed in Single Rocket Strike—Ukraine Denies

On Sunday, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov, the Defense Ministry Spokesman for Russia, announced that Russian forces had killed over 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a massive rocket strike on temporary bases in Kramatorsk, TASS reports.

“Over the past day, Russian intelligence means detected and reliably confirmed through various independent channels some temporary bases of Ukrainian servicemen in Kramatorsk,” Konashenkov said.

“As a result of a massive rocket strike on these temporary bases of Ukrainian units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed.”

Konashenkov revealed that there were over 700 Ukrainian servicemen at dormitory No. 28 and more than 600 at dormitory No. 47 in Kramatorsk.

The spokesperson stated that the strike was part of a retaliation operation in response to an attack by Ukrainian forces on a temporary Russian military base in Makeyevka on January 1, which resulted in the deaths of 89 Russian servicemen.

Konashenkov explained, “In response to an illicit strike inflicted by Kiev’s regime on a temporary Russian military base in the settlement of Makeyevka of the Donetsk People’s Republic in the first minutes of January 2023 the command of the united group of Russian military forces conducted a retaliation operation.”

Ukraine has called Russia’s claim “propaganda,” denying that 600 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the strike.

“This is another piece of Russian propaganda,” Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesman for the Ukrainian army, told the BBC.

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