Russian Ministry of Defense said on Jan. 3 that 89 Russian soldiers had been killed in a Ukrainian New Year's Eve attack on their quarters. The regiment's deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Bachurin, was among the killed. Footage posted online showed a building purported to be a vocational college in Makiivka, a city in the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, reduced to rubble.
Ukraine puts the death toll from the New Year’s Eve strike in the occupied city of Makiivka at 400 Russian soldiers. The Strategic Communications Department of Ukraine's military wrote on Telegram that at least 300 were injured.
According to Russian Defense Ministry, cited by the Russian state-controlled news outlet RIA Novosti, Ukraine struck the military base in Makiivka using High-Mobility Rocket Artillery Systems (HIMARS). One of the senior Moscow-installed proxies in Donetsk Oblast confirmed the Ukrainian attack, writing on Telegram that it happened just after midnight on Jan. 1. He didn't specify the number of casualties.
The Donbas region, made up of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, is the scene of the war's most intense fighting as Russia seeks to capture the entire region. Russia invaded and partially occupied the region in 2014, including Donetsk, the regional capital of Donetsk Oblast. Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February, Russia has occupied nearly all of Luhansk Oblast but has only managed to take parts of Donetsk Oblast.
