Russia claims lethal missile strike on Ukrainian barracks, Kyiv denies anybody killed5 hours in the past

The Russian navy claimed Sunday to have carried out lethal missile strikes on barracks utilized by Ukrainian troops in retaliation for the deaths of dozens of Russian troopers in a rocket assault per week in the past. Ukrainian officers denied there have been any casualties.

The Russian Defence Ministry mentioned its missiles hit two short-term bases housing 1,300 Ukrainian troops in Kramatorsk, within the japanese Donetsk area, killing 600 of them. Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov mentioned the strikes had been retaliation for Ukraine’s assault in Makiivka, during which at the least 89 Russian troopers died.

Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces within the east, instructed the Related Press that Russian strikes on Kramatorsk broken solely civilian infrastructure, including: “The armed forces of Ukraine weren’t affected.”

The Donetsk regional administration mentioned seven Russian missiles hit Kramatorsk and two extra hit Konstantynivka, with out inflicting any casualties. It mentioned an academic establishment, an industrial facility and garages had been broken in Kramatorsk, and an industrial zone was hit in Kostyantynivka.

Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko mentioned two college buildings and eight condominium homes had been hit in a single day, with photographs he posted displaying no signal of any in depth harm.

“The world noticed once more lately that Russia lies even when it attracts consideration to the state of affairs on the entrance with its personal statements,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned in his nightly video deal with.

“Russian shelling of Kherson with incendiary ammunition proper after Christmas. The strikes on Kramatorsk and different cities of the Donbas – aimed proper at civilian websites and proper when Moscow was reporting the supposed ‘silence’ of its military.”

Russia had declared a 36-hour ceasefire timed to coincide with Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Saturday. Ukraine denounced the pause as a ploy.

Russia mentioned the assault on Kramatorsk was in retaliation for the Ukrainian rockets that destroyed a facility in Makiivka, additionally within the japanese Donetsk area, the place Russian troopers had been gathered within the early hours of Jan. 1. It was one of many deadliest assaults on the Kremlin’s forces because the conflict started greater than 10 months in the past.

Additionally on Sunday, the Ukrainian navy claimed to have hit a residential corridor of a medical college in Rubizhne, a city within the Russian-occupied japanese Luhansk area, killing 14 Russian troopers housed there. The variety of wounded was unknown, it mentioned.

Elsewhere within the east, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko mentioned one individual was killed in strikes on Bakhmut, and eight others had been wounded. The battles for Bakhmut and the close by city of Soledar remained among the many bloodiest on the entrance, Mr. Zelensky mentioned.

Within the northeastern Kharkiv area, the city of Merefa was hit through the night time, killing one individual, and two different settlements within the area had been shelled, Governor Oleh Syniehubov mentioned.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners Sunday, swapping 50 on both sides, in response to Mr. Konashenkov, the spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, and Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s workplace.