January 4, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Four rockets from US-made HIMARS launchers were used in the deadly New Year's Day strike on Russian troops in the occupied city of Makiivka, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.  

Two other HIMARS rockets were intercepted by manned air defense assets, the ministry said. 

HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a multiple launch rocket launcher made in the United States.

Disputed death toll: The apparent Ukrainian strike took place just after midnight Sunday on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, according to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts.

The Ukrainian military claimed up to around 400 Russian soldiers died in the strike, while Russia's Defense Ministry has reported that 89 servicemen were killed.

The Russian Defense Ministry said 89 servicemen were killed in the strike in eastern Ukraine that occurred on New Year’s Day. Among them was the regiment's deputy commander, Lt. Col. Bachurin, the ministry said in a statement.

The apparent Ukrainian strike took place just after midnight on Sunday at a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka in the Donetsk region, according to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts.

On Monday, in a rare admission, the Russian Ministry of Defense said 63 servicemen had been killed in Makiivka when Ukraine used HIMARS rockets to attack a building where Russian soldiers were quartering. The Russian Defense Ministry updated the death toll after more bodies were found under the rubble.

The Ukrainian military had claimed up to around 400 Russian soldiers were killed and a further 300 wounded, and then said the exact number was “being clarified.”

In any case, it would represent one of the deadliest single losses of the war for Moscow’s forces.

US officials “have had direct conversations with Russian officials regarding Paul Whelan,” an American wrongfully detained in Russia, since the release of fellow wrongfully detained American Brittney Griner, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday.

Whelan was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 on espionage charges he has vehemently denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.

US officials were unable to secure his release in prisoner swaps this past year that secured the release of two other Americans wrongfully detained in Russia: Trevor Reed in April and Griner in mid-December. Multiple US officials said following Griner’s release that the Russians refused to negotiate a deal for Whelan.

Read more here.

Ukraine's military on Tuesday alleged another devastating attack on Russian troops had taken place.

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.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian armed forces in the south, told Ukrainian television: "This is one of our achievements in this direction of the front." 

"There will be more because we identify the enemy's locations," she said of the alleged hit.

CNN cannot verify the Ukrainian claim. Moscow has not publicly commented on the Chulakivka claim. 

However, a widely read Russian war blogger known as "Operation Z" said in a Telegram post on Tuesday “there is no f***ing denying” that Ukraine is now targeting barracks and other Russian troop strongholds with HIMARS, a reference to High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems. He included Chulakivka in his list of hits on Russian troops he said had taken place in December.

It comes after both Russian and Ukrainian authorities acknowledged a strike that took place just after midnight on New Year’s Day at a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region.

The Russian Defense Ministry says 89 servicemen were killed in the New Year’s Day strike, which would make it one of the deadliest single episodes of the war for Moscow’s forces.

Russian forces are continuing to focus efforts on offensive actions in the direction of Bakhmut in a bid to take full control over eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Tuesday.

“Russian occupiers do not abandon their plans to reach the administrative border of Donetsk region. The main efforts are focused on maintaining offensive potential and replenishing losses,” the General Staff said.

The General Staff said Russia continues to maintain a military presence in the border areas of Belarus and Russia, but there are “no signs of the formation of offensive groups.”

Tuesday’s situational update added Russia conducted eight air strikes and shelled Ukraine 18 times with multiple rocket launchers.

Some context on the city: For months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his advisers and generals have been calling the battles for Bakhmut “fierce” and “difficult.” The Russian advance on the city has left it in ruins but made it a symbol of Ukrainian resistance as it continues to hold on. Zelensky thrust the city onto the world stage as he discussed it during his speech in the US Capitol on Dec. 22, speaking about Bakhmut for six minutes.

Unseasonably warm weather in Ukraine is easing demand on the country’s electricity grid, the state-owned electricity operator said Tuesday.

"Due to warm weather, consumption in Ukraine is reduced," Ukrenergo said on its official Facebook page.

“Power plants produce enough electricity to cover the load.

"In addition, due to clear weather in the morning and afternoon hours, the production of electricity by solar power plants is increased."

Nonetheless, Ukrenergo said power restrictions would need to be implemented again by Tuesday afternoon as demand increased through the day, and urged Ukrainians to “consume electricity wisely.”

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, disrupting the supply of electricity, water and heat in the country this winter.