Ukraine’s military says 400 Russian conscripts were killed and another 300 were wounded in a massive New Year’s Day missile strike in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region. In a rare admission of heavy battlefield losses, Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged that dozens of troops were killed, but gave a much lower death toll.

Igor Konashenkov: “Russian air defense systems shot down two HIMARS missiles. As a result of the strike by four rockets with high-explosive warheads against the temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed.”

Even if the lower death toll is accurate, it was one of the deadliest single attacks on Russian forces since the start of the war last February. It came as Russia began 2023 by firing a barrage of cruise missiles across Ukraine just after midnight on New Year’s Day.