Ukrainian officials have claimed that a strike on a Russian position near the town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine has killed 100 enemy soldiers.
In a statement published Thursday, the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said it had detected a “concentration of the enemy,” and employed artillery and a Soviet-designed missile system to carry out the attack.
“As a result of these several strikes, the destruction of more than 100 occupiers, two machine gun crews and two mortar crews was confirmed,” Ukraine’s military stated, praising the work of its “Special Forces warriors, artillerymen and rocketeers.”
CNN cannot independently verify the claim, and Kyiv did not provide any evidence of such an attack.
In recent weeks Ukraine has claimed a number of attacks which it says have killed large numbers of Russian soldiers.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said around 500 Russian troops were either killed or wounded in a hit near Chulakivka, a town in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, on New Year’s Eve.
CNN cannot independently verify that Ukrainian claim and Moscow has not publicly commented on it.
However both Ukraine and Russia acknowledged a strike that took place just after midnight on New Year’s Day on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported 89 Russian servicemen were killed in the strike, whereas the Ukrainian military reported higher figures, initially claiming up to around 400 Russian soldiers were killed.
CNN cannot independently verify either side’s reported death toll, but that strike appears to be one of the deadliest episodes of the conflict for Moscow’s forces.
