Punish commanders: Russian fury grows over deadly strike in Donetsk

Russian nationalists and some lawmakers have demanded punishment for commanders they accused of ignoring dangers as anger grew over the killing of dozens of Russian soldiers in one of the deadliest strikes of the Ukraine conflict.
 

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia is preparing to step up its attacks on its eastern neighbour using Iranian-made exploding drones, as Moscow looks for ways to keep up the pressure on Kyiv. “We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack by Shaheds (exploding drones),”  Zelenskyy said.  
 

In a rare disclosure, Russia's defence ministry said 63 soldiers were killed in the Ukrainian strike on New Year’s Eve that destroyed a temporary barracks in a vocational college in Makiivka, twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
 

Russian critics said the soldiers were being housed alongside an ammunition dump at the site, which the Russian defence ministry said was hit by four rockets fired from US-made HIMARS launchers.
 

TV footage showed a huge building reduced to rubble as cranes and bulldozers picked through concrete debris lying several feet deep.
 

Ukraine and some Russian nationalist bloggers have put the Makiivka death toll in the hundreds, though pro-Russian officials say those estimates are exaggerated.
 

Rallies to commemorate the dead were held in several Russian cities, including Samara, where some came from, RIA Novosti news agency reported. Mourners laid flowers in the centre of Samara.
 

“I haven’t slept for three days, Samara hasn’t slept. We are constantly in touch with the wives of our guys. It's very hard and scary. But we can't be broken. Grief unites ... We will not forgive, and, definitely, victory will be ours,” RIA quoted Yekaterina Kolotovkina, a representative of a women's council at an army unit, as telling one of the rallies.
 

The strike on Makiivka came as Russia was launching what have become nightly waves of drone attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the attacks were aimed at “exhausting our people, our anti-aircraft defences, our energy”.