Ukraine denies Russian claim it killed 600 soldier

Ukraine denies Russian claim it killed 600 soldier

There were reports of strikes overnight in Kramatorsk, but Moscow has given no proof to support its claim it killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers

By Hugo Bachega in Kyiv and George Wright in London

Ukraine has marked as" propaganda" a Russian claim that it killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in an attack.

Moscow claimed, without giving any confirmation, that a" mass bullet strike" in the eastern megacity of Kramatorsk had killed further than 600 Ukrainian forces.

It said it was in retribution for a Ukrainian attack on a Russian base that killed dozens of Russian soldiers on New Year's Day.

But the Ukrainian service says this is untrue.

" This is another piece of Russian propaganda," Serhiy Cherevaty, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army, told the BBC.

Russia's defence ministry said it had killed further than 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a strike on structures temporarily housing Ukrainian forces. further than,300 Ukrainian colors were housed in two structures, Moscow said.

Moscow is yet to offer any evidence of its claim about the Kramatorsk deaths.

By matching filmland of the attack published by original officers to Google satellite imagery and other images online, the BBC has verified the position of two spots about a afar piecemeal in Kramatorsk.

The strikes happed near two academy structures vocational seminaries number 28 and 47- which match with the dormitory figures handed by Russia. Moscow says the structures were casing Ukrainian service labor force.

still, there is no visual substantiation that shows these two structures were poorly hit or that there has been mass deaths on the scale claimed by Russia.

By James Waterhouse, BBC Ukraine pressman

Not that Russia's 36- hour ceasefire ever recalled a armistice, but nearly incontinently after it ended, we felt seven or so explosions in the megacity of Kramatorsk.

The rattle of the windows made us decide to head to the sanctum. Until also, we would only heard faint thuds and a many enchantresses. This marked a return to the nearly diurnal bullet strikes which Kramatorsk has had to endure.

Moscow's armistice had only led to the faintest of let ups in the megacity, which can not be said for the girding area.

The original mayor posted images of damaged structures and said two educational spots, eight apartment blocks and garages were damaged from the explosions.

There were no reported casualties, contrary to the claims from the Kremlin.

There was further shelling in colorful corridor of Ukraine overnight after the end of what Russian President Vladimir Putin said was a 36- hour ceasefire by Russian forces so Orthodox Christians could celebrate Christmas. substantiation suggests this so- called ceasefire wasn't stuck to by Moscow.

Ukrainian officers said at least one person was killed in the Kharkiv region in the north- east.

Explosions were also reported in the southern metropolises of Zaporizhzhia and Melitopol.

Independently, Russia's defence ministry said that Ukraine had returned 50 captured Russian dogfaces after accommodations. Kyiv verified that it had entered the same number of dogfaces in return from Russia.

Ukrainian officers, who dismissed the ceasefire as a pessimistic propaganda move, said Russia had in any case not admired it.

In his evening address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced" Russian shelling of Kherson with inflammatory security right after Christmas", in the southeast.

" The strikes on Kramatorsk and other metropolises of Donbas targeted mercenary objects, and precisely when Moscow was reporting on the contended' silence' of the army," he added.

Putin's unilateral ceasefire ended at 2100 GMT Saturday 1100 pm in Kyiv, but night in Moscow

fresh reporting by Jake Horton and Hanna Chornous