Bombed out: the rubble of the school in Makiivka, which served as accommodation and ammunition depot for the Russian army
Image: IMAGO/SNA
At least dozens of Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on New Year’s Eve. Even Putin’s propagandists have criticized failures to house fighters.
Ein a festively set table, a champagne glass. On the table, between the bottle and the plate, is a smartphone showing Vladimir Putin’s New Year’s speech. Russia’s president is just thanking “the entire personnel of the armed forces”, then there is a bang. The camera pans to a young woman in a black dress who rushes into the room from the balcony, screaming, towards the Christmas tree.
The pictures are said to have been taken in Makiivka in eastern Ukraine and capture the moment when a rocket attack destroyed a vocational school. The functional building is said to have served the occupying military as accommodation for soldiers and as an ammunition depot. The Ukrainian side said around 400 men were killed and 300 others wounded. On New Year’s Day, the Russian Ministry of Defense only reported intercepting projectiles from the American HIMARS multiple rocket launcher in Makiivka. Only on Monday afternoon did it announce that “63 Russian soldiers” had died; two missiles were intercepted, four had reached their target.
