Russia's"unprofessional practices" have increased the death toll of Moscow's soldiers throughout the war in Ukraine, according to the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense, as the Kremlin fields increasingly vocal criticism over a deadly Ukrainian strike.
Ukrainian soldiers fire on Russian positions in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on December 30, 2022. The Ukrainian strike on Makiivka on New Year's Eve is believed to be Russia's worst loss since the war began in February.But the scale of the damage inflicted in the New Year's Eve strike suggests a"realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike," the U.K.
In the statement, attributed to Russia's Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov, the ministry said an investigation had been opened into the strike. Igor Girkin, a nationalist military blogger who led Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2014, was quoted by the Reuters news agency as openly questioning the Kremlin's published information on the Makiivka strike.