- Ukrainian forces struck Chulakivka, killing hundreds according to its military
- In another attack, Kyiv attacked a recreational facility used by GRU officers
- It comes after a deadly strike in Makivvka killed at least 63 people
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Ukraine is believed to have hit a recreational facility called Grand Prix used by Russian military occupiers (pictured)
Ukraine has killed or wounded at least 500 Russian troops in two devastating strikes in Kherson, its military has claimed.
The major attack on a farm in Chulakivka was claimed by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, adding to the scores killed in Makiivka, in Donetsk region, on 31 December.
In another new strike, Ukraine is believed to have hit a recreational facility called Grand Prix used by Russian military occupiers, including GRU military intelligence special forces.
Moscow has so far admitted to 63 deaths at its Makiivka barracks but Russian sources have indicated the toll is higher.
The scale of any losses here is not yet clear.
Russian pro-war channels have accused a Moscow volunteer Petr Lozhkovoy of openly posting pictures of the base, which they claim resulted in a Ukrainian HIMARS missile attack.
The 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade of the Russian GRU are known to have stayed here.
The attack at Chulakivka - with hundreds of suspected casualties - was at a farm, say some reports.
At Makiivka, DNA evidence is being used by the Russians to identify those killed in the strike, which happened at a vocational school being used as a barracks for mobilised men at the very moment Vladimir Putin's New Year message was being broadcast.
The site was used by Russian military occupiers, including GRU military intelligence special forces
Russian pro-war channels have accused a Moscow volunteer Petr Lozhkovoy of openly posting pictures of the base
The 10th Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade of the Russian GRU are known to have stayed here
Human remains are still being pulled from under the rubble of the 31 December attack and the number of official victims is expected to rise.
Ukrainian sources have speculated that there were 400 deaths of mobilised men.
An unofficial Russian toll today said 312 had died and 157 were wounded.
It was one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin's forces since the war began more than 10 months ago.
In the attack, Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS launch system and two of them were shot down, a Russian Defense Ministry statement said.
WarGonzo channel said today that National Guard SOBR special forces were among the dead.
It is now clear that many victims were from Samara region, rather than Saratov, as stated yesterday.
Among the cities in mourning were Tolyatti, Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran, as well as capital Samara.
Governor of Samara region Dmitry Azarov - a Putin appointee - confirmed: 'Our fellow countrymen were under the attack of enemy forces.
'There are wounded, alas, there are dead.
'At the moment, the information is being clarified.'
A desperate collection campaign of clothing for survivors has been started.
Locals are asked to give T-shirts, underwear and socks for the wounded who are believed to be in a hospital in Rostov-on-Don.
Some 130 sleeping bags have been collected for survivors.
Meanwhile, Russia is preparing to step up its attacks on Ukraine using Iranian-made exploding drones, according to Ukraine's president, as Moscow looks for ways to keep up the pressure on Kyiv.
'We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack by Shaheds (exploding drones),' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address late Monday.
Rubble is strewn across the ground in Russian-occupied Makiivka, in the eastern Donbas region, in the aftermath of the strike. The missiles hit a vocational school which had been turned into a barracks for Russian forces
He said the goal is to break Ukraine's resistance by 'exhausting our people, (our) air defense, our energy,' more than 10 months after Russia invaded its neighbor.
Vladimir Putin appears to be exploring ways to regain momentum in his flawed war effort, which in recent months has been undermined by a Ukrainian counteroffensive backed by Western-supplied weapons.
That has brought sharp rebukes in some Russian circles of the military's performance.
For the Russian military, the Iranian-made exploding drones are a cheap weapon which also spreads fear among troops and civilians. The United States and its allies have sparred with Iran over Tehran's role in allegedly supplying Moscow with the drones.
The Institute for the Study of War said that Putin is looking to strengthen support for his strategy among key voices in Russia.
'Russia's air and missile campaign against Ukraine is likely not generating the Kremlin's desired information effects among Russia's nationalists,' the think tank said late Monday.
Such profound military failures will continue to complicate Putin's efforts to appease the Russian pro-war community and retain the dominant narrative in the domestic information space,' it added.
Zelensky warned that in the coming weeks, 'the nights may be quite restless.'
He added that during the first two days of the new year, which were marked by relentless nighttime drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure, the country's forces shot down more than 80 Iranian-made drones.
As well as hoping to wear down resistance to Russia's invasion, the long-range bombardments have targeted the power grid to leave civilians at the mercy of biting winter weather as power outages ripple across the country.
'Every downed drone, every downed missile, every day with electricity for our people and minimal shutdown schedules are exactly such victories,' Zelensky said.
In the latest fighting, a Russian missile strike overnight on the city of Druzhkivka in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region wounded two people, the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported Tuesday.
Officials said the attack ruined an ice hockey arena described as the largest hockey and figure skating school in Ukraine.
Overnight Russian shelling was also reported in the northeastern Kharkiv region and the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
In the recently retaken areas of the southern Kherson region, Russian shelling on Monday killed two people and wounded nine others, Kherson's Ukrainian governor, Yaroslav Yanushevich, said Tuesday. He said the Russian forces fired at the city of Kherson 32 times on Monday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11594577/Ukraine-claims-killed-wounded-500-Russian-troops-strikes-two-bases.html
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