Dozens of Russian soldiers feared dead as Ukraine strikes Moscow-controlled region

[BumRushDaShow]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: NBC News

Ukraine killed dozens of Russian servicemen using U.S.-supplied artillery to hit a base in an occupied part of the country on New Years Eve, Russia's Defense Ministry said on Monday. Sixty-three servicemen died after 4 HIMARS artillery warheads struck a “provisional base,” the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday in a Telegram post. Two projectiles were shot down, the statement added.

Earlier, a senior Russian-backed official in occupied Donetsk said “vocational school” in the city of Makiivka had been hit by U.S.-supplied HIMARS. “A significant number of dead and wounded,” Daniil Bezsonov, said in a Telegram post on Sunday night.

While Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attack, its armed forces posted a cryptic message on Telegram Sunday night: “As a result of 'careless handling of heating devices,' neglecting security measures, and smoking in an unspecified place, Santa packed about 400 corpses of Russian servicemen in bags.” "About 300 more have wounds of varying degrees of severity," the account added.

NBC News was unable to verify claims from either side. Ukrainian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dozens-russian-soldiers-feared-dead-ukrainian-strike-donetsk-rcna63912

[SouthernDem4ever]

1. Feared dead?

Who writes the dumbass headlines? Should say "may be dead" . There is no fear about it other than a few Ukrainians may have been hurt accidentally.

[EYESORE 9001]

4. I caught that too

It’s like the writer has adopted the perspective of the Russian army. I don’t fear for them…do you? I bet the Ukrainian people in occupied territories don’t fear for them either. Let the Russian state media write tales from their point of view.

[SouthernDem4ever]

5. Maybe Chuck Tool wrote it

He's does stupid stuff like that.

[Wicked Blue]

7. Editors write the headlines, not the writers themselves

Too many times I discovered that some nitwit copy editor had written a totally wrong headline for one of my articles.

[EYESORE 9001]

8. Well then...

this editor failed spectacularly. ‘Feared dead…’ pffffft!

[SheltieLover]

9. Exactly!

[LiberalFighter]

22. That is why I include the writer's name. In this case it is Mithil Aggarwal.

I want them to get all the bad credit. But of course who was the copy editor or head editor?

[judesedit]

2. The Russians are targeting women and children and infrastructure in winter

I am against war, but am for defending ourselves. That's how I'm looking at this. Putin is a monster. And he sends others to do his dirty work. That is not a man in my eyes. It's a wimp. The Ukranians are heroes.

[brewens]

3. It was obvious but I posted a while back that any heat sources would be targets. That sounds like

such an attack. The Ukrainians are probably spotting any warm rooms with drones and hitting them. Make those bastards afraid to go in out of the cold or near even a field kitchen.

[Lovie777]

6. Ya know in about 15 years or so with......

Putin collecting Russian soldier's sperm in my opinion sounds alot like what Hitler was planning for the future with brainwashed, propaganda laced soldiers.

The parallel is uncanny.

[yaesu]

10. Putins GOP mercinaries will get on this ASAP. nt

[Javaman]

11. Well, fuck'em

This is the rookies war and they can pull out now and end the needless killing on both side.

But no, those that didn’t drink the kool-ade or believed pooties bullshit, got out. And those that couldn’t, protested and got thrown in the gulag

The remainder are too fearful to stand up for what is clearly wrong. And they pressed into the meat grinder for fearless leader.

But there are still many that believe the bullshit pravda propaganda and willingly go to their deaths in this meat grinder.

So I reiterate, Fuck’em

[secondwind]

12. IMHO, no matter what side you are on, it's more than likely you would rather be elsewhere. I have

always felt bad for soldiers, whatever side they are fighting on. They would much rather be elsewhere, for sure.

[RockRaven]

13. "Feared dead" by who? Laying out your loyalties there, NBC News?

Ukraine doesn't owe anyone a comment "taking responsibility" for defending their land and people from murdering invaders. That's the language NBC uses for terrorist attacks, btw. Nice style guide you're using.

Also, "Moscow controlled territory" is one hell of a way to refer to UKRAINE. It's Ukraine. The Russian soldiers killed were in Ukraine. The target of the HIMARS was in Ukraine. Ukraine. Try saying it.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

14. Duplicate

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143013841

[BumRushDaShow]

18. This is an update with an additional statement "today" and beyond 12 hours (incl. numbers)

Plus...

While Ukraine has not taken responsibility for the attack, its armed forces posted a cryptic message on Telegram: “As a result of 'careless handling of heating devices,' neglecting security measures, and smoking in an unspecified place, Santa packed about 400 corpses of Russian servicemen in bags.”

"About 300 more have wounds of varying degrees of severity," the account added.

(snip)

On Sunday, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said many civilian facilities had come under Ukrainian fire over the New Year’s Eve, according to TASS.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Ah, thanks. That's quite the self-contradicting tripleplex excuse for 400 deaths!

Just the kind of excuse package the Russians would offer. In my haste I initially thought the Russians were the authors of the excuse.

Three unrelated excuse happened all at the same time!

1. heating devices suggests ignition sources

but no, ignition was smoking:

3. smoking "somewhere"

but no, it was

2. "neglecting security measures" which suggests sabotage.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. Russia is now admitting to having shot down 2 HIMARS

but obviously missed the other 4 that found their targets (several sources indicating 6 were fired at the location).

ABC News (live updates)
Reuters

(when I posted this OP, there had been a pile of "Breaking" banners that had started flying on my iPad!)

[PortTack]

15. The total at the base was 600. According to British intel, most are dead

[Aristus]

17. 600 is a good start.

I wasn't fearing that they were dead; I was hoping for it. If the Russians fear more dead, they can hop back across their border and stay there.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. Ukrainian Attack Kills 63 Russian Soldiers

This was a successful attack on Russian soliders
https://politicalwire.com/2023/01/02/ukrainian-attack-kills-63-russian-soldiers/

Ukrainian Attack Kills 63 Russian Soldiers
January 2, 2023 at 9:13 am EST By Taegan Goddard 65 Comments

“Ukrainian missiles struck a building that housed Russian soldiers in an occupied city in Donetsk early on New Year’s Day,“ the New York Times reports.

“The Russian Defense Ministry said that 63 service members died in the attack, a toll that would make it one of the deadliest single strikes against Russian forces in Ukraine since the war began.”

Wall Street Journal: “Photos of the site have since spread on Russian social media. Several of the military bloggers said the army had stored ammunition at the same location that triggered a large explosion leveling the building.”

[FredGarvin]

19. More like 500 Orcs killed

The Russian State media is on copiates

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. The Russian base in Makiivka is but dust

Link to tweet

[oldsoftie]

21. My tax dollars at work. And I'm fine with that. nt

[LiberalFighter]

23. I don't fear them being dead.

[Warpy]

24. Story I read last night said it was a combination barracks

and ammunition storage facility, something that makes sense only if you're the Russian high command.

It's why the ratio of dead to wounded was so close. It's hard to escape when you're on top of an exploding ammo dump.

If it turns out to be true, the incompetence of the Russian high command has gone from stunning to criminal.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. Reuters has this as an update

January 2, 2023 10:43 AM EST Last Updated 16 min ago
Anger in Russia as scores of troops killed in one of war's deadliest strikes


By Pavel Polityuk


KYIV, Ukraine, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Russia acknowledged on Monday that scores of its troops were killed in one of the Ukraine war's deadliest strikes, drawing demands from nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers alongside an ammunition dump.

Russia's defence ministry said 63 soldiers had died in the fiery blast which destroyed a temporary barracks in a former vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk.

It said the accommodation had been hit by four rockets fired from U.S.-made HIMARS launchers, claiming two rockets had been shot down. Kyiv said the Russian death toll was in the hundreds, though pro-Russian officials called this an exaggeration.

Russian military bloggers, many with hundreds of thousands of followers, said the huge destruction was a result of storing ammunition in the same building as a barracks, despite commanders knowing it was within range of Ukrainian rockets.

(snip)

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/defiant-ukrainians-cheer-new-year-drones-blasted-skies-2023-01-01/

[Warpy]

33. Thanks! I'm on mountain time and got up shockingly late

and haven't had a chance to look for updates to the story. What I read last night was hot off the cell phone to Russian social media and badly translated.

However, troops housed in close proximity to a big ammo storage dump? Who the hell does that?

It's hard not to feel a little sorry for those poor bastards, blown to bits by Russian high command stupidity.

[dchill]

26. Not feared. Hoped.

[DFW]

27. The only part of this report that I find reliable is that something went boom

The rest of it seems both unverifiable and exaggerated. Great plug for getting members of the Red Army to quit smoking, though.

[ZonkerHarris]

29. Feared? That was the goal.

[samsingh]

30. feared?

what a stupid heading or revealing

[purr-rat beauty]

32. No - we fear the death of innocents in a war of choice

Russian soldiers are very viable targets that should be celebrated.

[LudwigPastorius]

34. Fuck Aroundski and Find Outski, Boris.

[The Jungle 1]

35. Yo puketin

You lost dickweed. Go home.

[Omaha Steve]

36. After a review by forum hosts, locking........

Hosts have decided this is more of a dupe than an update of: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143013841rnrn

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