Russia has claimed that Ukraine fired rockets at a facility in Moscow-held areas of Donetsk, killing 63 soldiers stationed there.
This is one of the deadliest attacks on the Russian forces since the war began more than 10 months ago.
The strike, using a US-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia, which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
According to the governor of Russia’s Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, an unspecified number of residents of the region were among those killed and wounded by the strike in the town of Makiivka.
A total of six rockets were fired by Ukraine, and two of them were shot down, said the Russian defence ministry.
Ammunition stored close to the facility exploded in the rocket strikes and contributed to the high number of casualties, the AP report said.
RUSSIA TARGETS KYIV
Meanwhile, the Russian attack on Kyiv has been unrelenting since New Year’s Eve.
On Monday, Russia fired over 40 drones towards Kyiv, but some of them were destroyed, as per Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Energy infrastructure facilities were damaged as a result of the attack, and an explosion occurred in one city district, the mayor said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether that was caused by drones or other munitions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “energy terrorism” as the aerial bombardments have left many people without heat amid the cold winter. Russia has been accused of “weaponising winter” in its effort to demoralise the Ukrainian resistance.