A devastating strike on a Russian military barracks required DNA forensics to identify remains of the more than 60 Russian troops killed.
Russian military Telegram channels "report the human remains on the ground can only be identified via DNA tests," Billingcat investigative reporter Christo Grozev tweeted Monday, adding the death total might be a "significant undercounting" but this will still be "largest single incident loss Russia has recognized" since the war began Feb. 24.
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers said the HIMAR ((High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) strike exploded when it struck ammunition stored nearby, adding to the death total, which some online have said could be "many hundreds."
The strike came from the U.S.-made multiple launch rocket system on New Year's Eve, hitting the barracks in the city of Makiivka, in the Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, Newsweek reported.
Russia's defense ministry claimed there were six rockets, only two of which its air defense system shot down.
"All necessary assistance and support will be provided to the relatives and friends of the fallen servicemen," Russia wrote in a statement.
The Black Sea flagship Moskva fatality total was alleged to be 700, but Russia acknowledged less than 20.
Igor Girkin, a former intelligence officer, and Archangel Spetznaz Z, a Russian military blogger, criticized the Russian military for housing so many troops in one central location, according to Newsweek.
"Our generals are untrainable," Girkin posted to Telegram.
"Who came up with the idea to place personnel in large numbers in one building?" Spetznaz Z wrote.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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