Russian lawmakers call for revenge after Ukrainian strike leaves 63 Russian troops dead

Russian lawmakers have called for “vengeance” after Ukraine fired US-supplied missiles at the regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, killing 63 Russian troops in the deadliest attack on Russian forces since the start of the Ukraine war.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the servicemen were killed in the Russian-controlled city of Makiivka in Donetsk, which joined the Russian Federation through a referendum along with three other Ukrainian regions in September.

At least six US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) were used in the deadliest attack, the ministry said. Two projectiles were intercepted by air defenses, but four made it through.

"As a result of a strike by four missiles with high-explosive warheads on a temporary deployment point, 63 Russian servicemen were killed,” Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said during a briefing.

The member of the Russian Senate and former deputy foreign minister, Grigory Karasin, demanded revenge against Ukraine and its US-led NATO supporters.

Sergei Mironov, a legislator and former chairman of the Senate, called on officials to further investigate and claim criminal liability for officials who "allowed the concentration of military personnel in an unprotected building", despite knowledge of the US-made HIMARS rocket range.

Ukraine has killed scores of Russian troops in Donetsk strike: Moscow

The Russian Defense Ministry said “four missiles with a high-explosive warhead” killed scores of Russian servicemen.

The footage posted online purportedly showed the building of the vocational college razed to the ground as a result of the attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not address the Makiivka strike in his nightly speech on Monday as Ukraine never publicly claims responsibility for attacks on Russian forces.

However, the general staff of Ukraine's armed forces reported the Makiivka attack as "a strike on Russian manpower and military equipment."

Kiev claimed that Russian casualties in eastern Ukraine were in the hundreds, while Russian officials called the claim an exaggeration.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry earlier condemned Washington for not only supplying sophisticated weapons to Kiev, but also providing the Ukrainian military with intelligence about the location of the Russian forces.

The two sides have in recent months exchanged hundreds of prisoners, despite a complete breakdown in broader diplomatic talks.

Russia started the “special military operation” in Ukraine with the declared aim of "de-Nazifying" the country on February 24, 2022, accusing Kiev of failing to implement the terms of an earlier peace agreement with the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Since the beginning of the war, the United States and its European allies have imposed waves of economic sanctions on Moscow while supplying large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kiev.

The Kremlin has repeatedly warned that the sanctions and the Western military assistance to Kiev will only prolong the war.

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