MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had killed more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a massive retaliatory rocket strike on two buildings in eastern Ukraine temporarily housing Ukrainian forces.
Reuters could not immediately verify the defence ministry’s assertion. There was no immediate comment on the Russian claim from Ukraine, though the mayor of Kramatorsk, the eastern Ukrainian town Russia said it had targeted, said earlier on Sunday on Facebook that nobody had been killed in an attack on various buildings in the city.
Russia’s defence ministry said the strike on the buildings in Kramatorsk was revenge for a deadly Ukrainian attack earlier this year on a Russian barracks in Makiivka in part of the Donetsk region controlled by Moscow’s forces in which at least 89 servicemen were killed.
The ministry said in a statement that it had used what it called reliable intelligence to target the Ukrainian troops. It said more than 700 Ukrainian troops had been housed in one hostel and more than 600 in another.
“As a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment points of Ukrainian army units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed,” the defence ministry said.
If true, it would be the single largest loss of Ukrainian troops since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 last year.
Meanwhile, two thermal power plants were damaged by Ukrainian shelling in Russian-controlled parts of the country’s Donetsk region, officials said on Sunday.
Early information suggested that the plants in Zuhres and Novyi Svit had been hit and that some people on the spot had sustained injuries, the officials said on their Telegram channels.
Two people might be trapped under debris at the damaged Starobesheve power plant in Novyi Svit, TASS reported. Citing officials, it said the strike was carried out using a multiple rocket launcher system.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine which never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.