Ukraine denies Russian claim it killed 600 troops in missile attack

Ukraine has denied Russia's claim that it killed 600 Ukrainian troops in a missile attack.

The allegation comes almost a week after Ukraine's forces fired rockets at a facility in the eastern Donetsk region where Russian soldiers were stationed, killing dozens of them in one of the deadliest attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war began more than 10 months ago.

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the missile strikes were retaliation for Ukraine’s attack in Makiivka, in which at least 89 Russian soldiers died.

"Over the past day, Russian intelligence means detected and reliably confirmed through various independent channels some temporary bases of Ukrainian servicemen in Kramatorsk," he said.

"As a result of a massive rocket strike on these temporary bases of Ukrainian units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed."

Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine's forces in the east, said Russian strikes on Kramatorsk damaged only civilian infrastructure, adding: “The armed forces of Ukraine weren’t affected.”

Official reports say that in the last 24 hours at least two people had been killed during the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said one person was killed in strikes on Bakhmut, and eight others in the region were wounded.

He also reported rocket attacks on Kramatorsk and Konstantynivka.

In the Kharkiv region, the town of Merefa was hit during the night, killing one person and two other settlements in the region were shelled, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

The latest developments come after Russian forces ended a partially observed, unilateral ceasefire timed to coincide with Orthodox Christmas celebrations on Saturday.

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