Kyiv has denied Moscow's claims to have killed 600 Ukrainian servicemen in a "retaliatory strike" in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk to avenge the deaths of 89 Russian troops in Makiivka.
The Russian Defence Ministry on Sunday said the servicemen were killed in the strike on troops stationed in two buildings in Kramatorsk used as barracks.
The ministry did not say when the strike had taken place but claimed Russian intelligence had "over the past 24 hours" confirmed points where more than 1,300 members of Ukraine's armed forces were housed in two buildings in Kramatorsk.
"More than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed," the ministry said.
Ukraine's armed forces rejected the claim.
"This information is as true as the data that they have destroyed all of our HIMARS," Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern group of the Ukrainian armed forces, told the Suspilne media outlet, referring to US-supplied rocket systems. He said Russia could not deliver high-precision strikes.
And one witness told Reuters the Russian rocket strike caused some damage at the site but did not destroy any buildings and there were no immediate signs of casualties.
Reuters reporters visited the two college dormitories Russia's Defence Ministry said had been temporarily housing Ukrainian servicemen close to the front line of the war at the time of the overnight strike.
Neither appeared to have been directly hit by missiles or seriously damaged. There were no obvious signs that soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of blood.
Some of the windows were broken at Hostel No 47, which stood by a courtyard scarred by a large crater.
The other building named by the ministry, Hostel No 28, was entirely intact. A crater lay about 50 metres away closer to some garages.
Earlier on Sunday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional administration, said Russia launched seven rocket attacks on Kramatorsk.
He said "an educational institution, an industrial facility and a garage" had been damaged and that there were no casualties.
The strike came in apparent retaliation for a New Year attack by Kyiv on a building in the occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka being used as a barracks.
Russia conceded 89 troops were killed in what was the worst single reported loss from a Ukrainian strike.
Meanwhile, two were killed and nine wounded at the weekend in strikes by Russian forces, despite a unilaterally announced ceasefire by Moscow in Ukraine, Kyiv said.
One person died and another eight were injured in Donetsk in the past 24 hours, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, said on Sunday.
Another was killed in the north-eastern region of Kharkiv, while one person was wounded in the southern region of Kherson over the same period, he added.
"Despite the so-called ceasefire declared by the Russian occupiers, over the past day the enemy launched nine missile and three air strikes and fired 40 attacks from multiple rocket launchers," Ukraine's Defence Ministry said in a separate statement.
"In particular, civilian infrastructure was hit."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a 36-hour ceasefire to allow Orthodox Christians to mark Christmas, which is celebrated on January 7 in Russia and Ukraine.
The unilateral ceasefire ended at 11pm in Kyiv on Saturday.
Weapons supplied to Ukraine - in pictures
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Germany will follow the US in providing a Patriot missile defence system, pictured above, to Ukraine. Reuters -
FIM-92 Stinger rockets have been donated to help Ukrainian infantry engage aircraft and drones. The shoulder-launched missiles can shoot down aircraft. Photo: US Army -
Germany donated 25 Flakpanzer Gepard all-weather-capable self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. AFP -
The High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, can simultaneously launch several precision-guided missiles. The US has given Ukraine projectiles with a range of about 130 kilometres. EPA -
M777 howitzers and about 300,000 shells have been donated to give Ukraine an accurate artillery platform with a range of 50 kilometres. EPA -
Ukraine has been sent at least 5,000 of the anti-tank weapons known as NLAWs. These shoulder-launched rockets have proved deadly in the field. PA -
Ukrainian troops have also received thousands of Javelin anti-tank missiles. Bloomberg -
Poland and the Czech Republic sent Russian-made T72 tanks, which Ukraine has used for decades, to ease integration and cut down training time. EPA -
France as announced its plan to give AMX-10 RC “scout tanks” to Ukraine. "This is the first time that western-made armoured vehicles are being delivered in support of the Ukrainian army," a French official said. AFP -
Shortly after the French, the US said it would send Bradley fighting vehicles to provide "a level of firepower and armour that would bring advantages on the battlefield”. Reuters -
The UK sent their phased-out Saxon armoured vehicles. They found new life protecting infantry units in transit and dealing with tough off-road conditions. Getty Images -
Denmark has supplied Harpoon anti-ship launchers to help Ukraine defend its coasts. AFP -
Turkey sold Ukraine its Bayraktar TB2 armed drones. These unmanned aircraft can fly at an altitude of 7,500 metres before swooping down to attack targets. They have been instrumental in Ukraine. AFP -
The US sent 20 Soviet and Russian made Mi-17 helicopters to Ukraine that had initially been bought for the Afghan government in 2010. AP -
Germany has also supplied its latest version of the IRIS-T air defence system designed to shoot down missiles at altitudes up to 20 kilometres. Getty Images -
The US also gave 700 of its Switchblade kamikaze drones. AP -
Ukraine has also been given thousands of small arms, bullet proof vests, medical kits, litres of fuel, granades and other weapons systems. Reuters
Kyiv and AFP journalists on the ground said there was little sign the fighting had eased on Saturday.
"After midnight the enemy launched seven rocket attacks on Kramatorsk and two on Kostyantynivka," said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk regional administration.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday it had observed the halt in fighting but repelled a number of Ukrainian attacks and killed dozens of Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine dismissed the brief truce as a tactic by Russia to gain time to regroup its forces and bolster its defences after a series of battlefield setbacks.
Sergiy Gaiday, head of the Lugansk regional administration, said the Russians were redeploying forces from Bakhmut, the current epicentre of the fighting, to the city of Kreminna.
"We are expecting an intensification of hostilities," he added. "Our heavy equipment will finally be able to move forward faster."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had rejected the ceasefire order, calling the temporary truce a trick aimed at halting the progress of Ukraine's forces in the eastern Donbas region as Russia brings in more troops.
Ukrainian and Russian forces are facing off over 1,500km of front line, with fighting intensity ranging from almost constant — such as the battle of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine — to sporadic and almost quiet in some areas — such as the front line near Kherson in the south.
Russia’s war has resulted in a minefield of some 250,000 square kilometres, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, an area about the size of the UK.
“It is currently the largest minefield in the world,” Shmyhal said in an interview published on Sunday. “It’s not only making it difficult for people to travel but also causing major disruptions in farming, which is one of our main industries.”
Ukraine war — in pictures
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A building burned from a strike as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Antonina, a refugee from Bakhmut in Donetsk region, with dogs she rescued in Izyum, Kharkiv. AFP -
A resident gives her neighbours hot food brought by volunteers in Izyum. AFP -
A Ukrainian soldier salutes as he works to build a bunker with sand in Bakhmut. Reuters -
Volodymyr Kovalov, 77, carries tree branches attached to his bike as he collects wood for heating and cooking in Kherson region. AFP -
A local resident takes pictures of a destroyed monastery in Dolyna, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
A decoy dummy made with the clothes of a Russian soldier at the entrance of a destroyed cinema in Kamyanka, eastern Ukraine. AFP -
Destroyed houses in the city of Kamyanka. AFP -
Caesar, 50, a Russian who joined the Freedom of Russia Legion to fight on the side of Ukraine, stands in front of a destroyed monastery in Dolyna. AFP -
An employee stands next to a shelter at a stainless pipes plant in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region. AFP -
Ivan and Iryna Kalinin before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Iryna, who was pregnant, was killed in a Russian air strike on Mariupol's maternity hospital. Ivan returned to the occupied city to rebury his wife and baby. AP -
Natalia, 67, sits inside her house that was damaged in a Russian military strike, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. Reuters -
Ukrainian soldiers ride in a military vehicle in Bakhmut, a city in the Donetsk enclave. AP -
Smoke billows from a building on fire after a Russian attack in Bakhmut. AP -
Sasha and her grandfather stand outside their home in Bakhmut. AP -
Ukrainian soldiers set up a barricade in Bakhmut. AP -
Nastya carries her cat as her mother Anna says goodbye to neighbours with whom they lived for months in a basement during Russian attacks in Soledar, a city in the Donetsk enclave of Ukraine. AP -
Anna and Nastya in the basement during a Russian attack nearby. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier is wheeled on a stretcher at a hospital in the Donetsk enclave. AP -
A woman looks a building damaged by Russian shelling in Kherson. AFP -
Oleksandra Koshkina, 85, sits in a car as she returns to her village of Torske, in the Donetsk enclave. Reuters -
A resident of Bakhmut walks along an empty street. Reuters -
A street market in Bakhmut. Reuters -
A Ukrainian soldier poses for a picture in the Donetsk enclave. Reuters -
Officials tend to a patient on a plane carrying Ukrainian Jewish refugees as they wait to disembark at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. AFP
