Around 500 Russian troops were allegedly either killed or wounded in a hit on the enemy troops and equipment stronghold near the town of Chulakivka, in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Ukraine’s military announced on Tuesday.
The alleged devastating attack of Ukrainian Defense Forces on Russian troops, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, had taken place on New Year’s Eve.
The General Staff noted that Russia continues to suffer losses, pointing out that there will be more because the Ukrainian armed forces in the south have identified the enemy’s locations.
Chulakivka was in the list of hits on Russian troops confirmed to have taken place in December by the widely read Russian war blogger known as “Operation Z”, who noted in a Telegram post on Tuesday that Kyiv is now targeting barracks and other Russian troop strongholds with HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems).
Meanwhile, Moscow has updated the death toll of Russian service members killed in the New Year’s Day strike in Makiivka – in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region, raising it to 89, blamed the attack on unauthorized use of mobile phones by its soldiers.
Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov said in a video statement released by the Russian defense ministry early on Wednesday that the death toll was increased after additional bodies were found under the rubble.
Sevryukov pointed out an obvious reason for what happened was the switching on and massive use of mobile phones by personnel in a reach zone of enemy weapons, contrary to the prohibition, which allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the Russian soldiers’ location.
Previously on Monday in a highly unusual move, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged the Makiivka attack and claimed that 63 servicemen were killed – one of the deadliest single episodes of the war for Moscow’s forces- whereas Ukraine was claiming that about 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the attack.