Ukraine Rejects Russian Claim of Devastating 'Retaliatory Strike'Russia said Sunday it had performed a devastating vindictive strike in eastern Ukraine to avenge a current fatal attack on its soldiers, a claim quickly rejected by Kyiv. More than 600 Uk

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia said Sunday it had carried out a devastating "retaliatory strike" in eastern Ukraine to avenge a recent deadly attack on its troops,
a claim quickly denied by Kyiv."More than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed" by a missile strike on troops stationed in two buildings
used as barracks in Kramatorsk, said a Russian defense ministry statement.Russia described the attack as a "retaliatory strike" following
Ukraine's New Year's Eve missile salvo in the eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka, which Moscow said killed 89 of its soldiers.Ukraine's
armed forces rejected Russia's claim about the Kramatorsk attack."This information is as true as the data that they have destroyed all of
In the attack on Makiivka, Ukraine used U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles.Cherevaty said Russia could not deliver high-precision strikes.The
more than 1,300 Ukrainian troops in two buildings in Kramatorsk.The industrial city, in the eastern Donetsk region, has been the target of
repeated Russian missile attacks.Four blasts before midnightEarlier Sunday, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk regional
industrial facility and a garage cooperative" had been damaged and that there had been no casualties.AFP could not independently verify the
situation
On Saturday, the Orthodox Christmas, AFP journalists in Kramatorsk heard at least four explosions before midnight.In Ukraine's attack, its
missiles struck a building in Makiivka being used as a barracks.While Russia conceded 89 troops had died, the worst single reported loss
from a Ukrainian strike since the war began last February, one statement from Ukraine's military claimed the losses came to more than
400.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire to allow Orthodox Christians to mark Christmas, which was celebrated
not respected it.In his evening address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced "Russian shelling of Kherson with
incendiary ammunition right after Christmas," in the southeast."The strikes on Kramatorsk and other cities of Donbas targeted civilian
objects, and precisely when Moscow was reporting on the alleged 'silence' of the army," he added.Putin's unilateral ceasefire ended at 2100
GMT Saturday: 11:00 pm in Kyiv, but midnight in Moscow.