Russia’s claims it killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in rocket strike is blown apart as Kyiv says it ‘didn’t kill a soul’

RUSSIA’S claims it killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a revenge attack have been rubbished by Kyiv. Moscow said it had blasted two buildings temporarily housing 1,300 Ukrainian troops in the country’s eastern region Donetsk on Sunday. APRussia claimed it had killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a rocket strike[/caption] ReutersIt is reported the missiles missed the target[/caption] Russia‘s defence ministry claimed more than 600 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the city of Kramatorsk in what it branded a “retaliatory strike”. But Ukraine has dismissed Moscow’s claim and said no one was killed amid reports the strike missed its target. Kramatorsk’s mayor earlier said there had been no casualties, but a school and apartments were damaged. Russia’s defence ministry had claimed the strike was revenge for a deadly Ukrainian attack on New Year’s Eve. It said Moscow had used what it called reliable intelligence to target the Ukrainian troops. A spokesman said: “As a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary deployment points of Ukrainian army units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were destroyed.” But pictures only show the windows of the building blown out – suggesting the missiles did not directly hit and instead landed close by. There were no obvious signs that soldiers had been living there and no sign of bodies or traces of blood, Reuters reported from the scene. Some of the windows were broken at Hostel No. 47, which stood by a courtyard that had a big crater in it. The other building named by Russia’s defence ministry, Hostel No. 28, was entirely intact. A crater lay about 50 metres away closer to some garages. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian military spokesman, described the claim of mass casualties as an attempt by Russia to show it had responded forcefully to Ukraine’s recent strikes. He added: “The Russian information is not true.  “The Russian army attacked Kramatorsk with seven missiles but it did not have any impact on the Ukrainian army.” It comes after hundreds of Putin’s troops reportedly died in the strike on Russian barracks in the Donbas region on December 31. Russia attempted to hide the toll of soldiers lost in the strike – but Ukraine’s military puts the number of Russian deaths at 400, with 300 others wounded. Moscow did confirm a “significant loss of life”, signalling a grievous blow to the already exhausted Russian troops. Meanwhile, Ukraine has warned Putin is preparing to mobilise another 500,000 troops this month to bolster war efforts. Moscow is feared to be planning a new full-scale assault to crush its neighbour this spring, a year after the first disastrous invasion. An official has claimed the new conscription wave will be larger than the last one when another 300,000 conscripts were called to fight in October. The partial mobilisation had sparked panic across the country sending Russians frantically fleeing to the borders to escape being sent to the battlefield. Andriy Cherniak, an official with the Main Military Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said that the new wave of mobilisation will begin after January 15. He told Politico: “This time the Kremlin will mobilise residents of big cities, including the strategic industries centres all over Russia. “This will have a very negative impact on the already suffering Russian economy.” Moscow has denied it is preparing for a fresh draft of conscripts but Cherniak claimed that Russia secretly continued the conscription of troops.   The Russian leader had previously said a new call-up would be “pointless” as only 150,000 of those drafted in October are currently fighting in Ukraine. AFPRussia claimed it had killed 600 Ukrainian soldiers in a single attack[/caption] East2WestIt comes after a deadly attack on of Russia’s barracks[/caption]