The Ukrainian General Staff said that about 500 Russian soldiers were killed and wounded after the bombing of Russian forces' positions in the south of Kherson Province (south).

For its part, Moscow said that its aircraft carrying strategic missiles will participate this year in the war that has been going on since February 2022.

In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Ukrainian "Staff" stated that the fire force - on New Year's Eve - targeted the locations of the Russian forces in the Chulakivka and Fedroivka regions in Kherson Province, adding that work is underway to determine the extent of the loss of life and equipment.

The Ukrainian General Staff added that, on Monday, the Air Force carried out 18 strikes on areas where Russian forces, equipment and missile systems were concentrated.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that during the past hours, Russian forces launched 52 air strikes and 77 missile systems, targeting mainly civilian infrastructure inside Ukrainian territory.

The Ukrainian authority stated that the Russians are trying to fully control the axes that they lost on more than one front, and that its forces continue to repel Russian attacks on more than one axe.

Makevka attack

Kyiv's announcement of the bombing of Russian soldiers' positions in Kherson comes a day after Russia admitted yesterday that 63 of its soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian missile strike that targeted the city of Makivka, east of Donetsk canton, in the Donbass region, in eastern Ukraine.

It is the largest reported death toll for Moscow in one day since the start of the war on February 24


For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had bombed with 4 US-made HIMARS missiles a Russian assembly point in Makevka.

Russian and Ukrainian media reported that the Makivka attack took place on Saturday/Sunday night, that is, New Year's Eve, and targeted a building housing reservists who were recently mobilized in Russia.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff announced the responsibility of his forces for the attack in Makivka, stressing that 6 HIMARS missiles were fired at a gathering site for Russian forces.

The Ukrainian army reported that nearly 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the attack, and a former leader of the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine estimated the number of dead and wounded in the hundreds.

Demand accountability

Because of this strike, the Russian military leadership faced criticism and accusations of negligence by politicians and activists against the military leaders.

Russian military bloggers said that the massive destruction was the result of storing the ammunition in the same building as the military barracks, although the commanders knew that it was in the range of Ukrainian missiles, which is the same position issued by Igor Strelkov, the former separatist leader in eastern Ukraine.

For his part, Sergei Mironov, former speaker of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament), demanded criminal accountability for officials who "allowed soldiers to be piled up in an unprotected building, and for all higher authorities who did not provide the proper level of security."

Grigory Karasin, a member of the Russian Federation Council and former deputy foreign minister, called for "strict internal scrutiny" and retaliation against Ukraine and its backers in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The governor of the Russian Samara region, Dmitry Azarov, also announced the opening of a telephone line for the relatives of the soldiers killed in the Makivka attack.

Strategic missiles

Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash, Commander of Long-Range Aviation of the Russian Aerospace and Aerospace Forces, said that planes carrying strategic missiles will participate this year in the "special military operation" area, which is the name given by Moscow to the war it waged against Ukraine.

Russia Today quoted Kobilash as saying that during the current year's pilot training, the focus will be on improving the skills of using weapons and automatic command and guidance systems.

The Russian military commander said that the elements of most of the long-range aviation crews of the Air and Space Forces received combat experience during the special military operation.

The Russian strategic bomber "TU-160" is described as the most dangerous of its kind that Moscow has owned since Soviet times (Reuters)

And last July, Russia conducted tests over the North Pole of its strategic bomber, the Tu-160 (Tu-160), or "White Swan", which is described as the most dangerous strategic bomber since Soviet times until today, and it flew its time in the air for 7 hours and accompanied it. MiG-31 fighters.

These missiles are part of the strategic weapons, and their aim is to hit the enemy's industrial infrastructure to achieve a strategic goal, which is to impede the enemy's ability to wage war at a high level.

This is the difference between strategic and tactical weapons, as the latter are designed to achieve direct military objectives on the battlefield.

summit in Kyiv

The European Union and Ukraine are expected to hold a summit in the capital, Kyiv, on February 3 to discuss financial and military support, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a statement yesterday.

The statement stated that Zelensky discussed the details of this high-profile meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in his first phone call this year, and they talked about the supply of "appropriate" weapons and a new financial aid program worth 18 billion euros for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president added that his country expects to obtain the first part of the European Union's financial support this month.