Kiev, 3 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Kiev reported on Tuesday that its troops killed and injured around 500 Russian soldiers in an artillery attack in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

“The enemy’s losses amount to 500 dead and wounded,” the Ukrainian General Staff said regarding the attack near the village of Chulakivka on New Year’s Eve, in which its troops had targeted Russian soldiers and military equipment.

The military’s figures could not be independently verified. Both parties in the war frequently speak of high casualties on the opposing side.

The general staff said that Russian units in the village of Fedorivka were also hit on January 1. The number of casualties is still unclear.

Fedorivka and Chulakivka are both located on the south-eastern side of the Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson region.

News of the blasts comes after Kiev reported Monday that a further attack on New Year’s Eve killed hundreds of Russian soldiers in a temporary shelter in the town of Makiyivka in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry admitted to the death of 63 soldiers.

According to media reports, those killed were reservists called up during Moscow’s partial mobilization. They are said to have gathered in the building for a New Year’s celebration.

On Tuesday, a funeral service held in the Russian city of Samara for the soldiers killed in the attack, was used as a pro-war rally by pro-Kremlin groups.

“We are crushing the enemy,” said one of the speakers, the wife of a general, in comments to local media. Some 500 people gathered at the event, the report said.

Images show the artillery strike completely destroyed the building.

There was criticism on Russian social networks of the country’s own military leadership, which accommodated the soldiers in a very confined space that was close to where weapons and ammunition were being stored.

At the Samara funeral there was no discussion of mistakes by Russian generals or of the presence of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Attendees spoke in favour of continuing the war.

Meanwhile, British military experts say it is unlikely that Russia will achieve a major breakthrough near the embattled Ukrainian town of Bakhmut in the coming weeks.

The Ukrainian troops had strengthened their positions, the Defence Ministry wrote in a daily intelligence update on Tuesday.

According to the update, Russian attacks have recently eased – after reaching a temporary peak in mid-December. “Both sides have suffered high casualties,” the report said.