a Russian communication error
While people were celebrating the New Year, several US made GMLRS (GPS Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems) have hit a facility where Russian reservists were garrisoned in Makeyevka, eastern suburb of Donetsk. The building was leveled, 89 service members have been killed. Orthodox Christmas is on January 7 and at noon, on January 6, Vladimir Putin has enforced a unilateral 36-hour ceasefire.
After midnight, Moscow time, on January 8, witnesses and one CCTV video report large explosions in Kramatorsk, still Ukrainian-occupied part of Donetsk People’s Republic. The city is a rear base, about 45 km northwest of Bakhmut, also called Artemovsk, the hotspot on the front line, where Wagner private military company (PMC) is bleeding the Ukrainian cannon fodder.
At 4:00 pm, Moscow time, the Russian defense ministry states
As a result of the criminal attack of Kiev regime, in the first minutes of January 2023, against the location of of temporary deployment of Russian military personnel near Makeyevka (Donetsk People’s Republic), the command of the combined group of troops [general Sergey Surovikin] carried out a retaliatory operation.
Over the past 24 hours, Russian reconnaissance assets have uncovered and reliably confirmed through several independent channels the temporary deployment points of the AFU in Kramatorsk. There were over 700 Ukrainian servicemen in dormitory #28 and over 600 servicemen in dormitory #47.
More than 600 Ukrainian servicemen have been eliminated as a result of a massive missile strike on these locations of temporary deployment of the AFU units
But journalists and photos are showing the same day that none of the buildings has undergone a direct hit. The statement of the Russian staff is false
How is it possible to impair in such way the reputation of the whole army ? The Russian statements have appeared so far reliable, while the Ukrainian propaganda and its broadcast through Western media and politicians are mainly coarse lies and easy-to-denounce disinformation, cover-up of severe losses and war crimes, making of false flags… etc
What is the gain ? I guess that the enemy losses were estimated through a mathematical model. The munitions were likely ballistic missiles. Albeit not an expert, I think that a hit a few meters from the target is not uncommon with such weapon. The Russian staff did not need the press to assess the success of the strikes. What is the reason of such a claim when the failure on precisely identified targets is easy to show ?
Last but not the least, the attack in Makeyevka was a strike against a military target, cruel but not a crime, when otherwise, Ukraine is indeed the culprit of terrorism against civilians. The idea of a retaliatory operation suggests that Russia would be dilettante, while at war, the job is to kill the most enemy fighters in all circumstances, in order to end it quickly and well.
Nicolas Cinquini 
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