Ukrainian forces fired six missiles from a US-supplied HIMARS launch system at the Russian base in Makiivka, though two of those were shot down, according to a Russian defence ministry statement.
A senior Russian-backed official in Donetsk Oblast, Daniil Bezsonov, said the missile had struck at two minutes after midnight on New Year’s Day.
Footage showing a young couple drinking champagne in the eastern city, celebrating the new year while watching fireworks on their phone moments before the first missile strike hits the nearby school outside their balcony, appears to corroborate this claim.
But the number of Russian soldiers killed in the attack remains in dispute, with Russian forces claiming the toll is considerably lower than what Ukrainian officials have suggested.
Sources close to the Russian-appointed leaders in the occupied Donetsk region claim only dozens of Russian soldiers were killed in the attack. Russia’s defence ministry suggested the death toll was 63.
Igor Girkin, one of Russia’s most pro-war, prolific and followed military bloggers, said on his Telegram that the death toll was in the hundreds.
