Flowers and prayers: Rallies were held in Russia on Tuesday to pay tribute to dozens of soldiers killed by a strike in eastern Ukraine.
Unusually in Russia, where authorities remain tight-lipped regarding military casualties in Ukraine, around 200 people attended an authorized rally in Samara, where some of the soldiers killed were from.
Residents laid roses or wreaths in front of an eternal flame in one of the city’s main squares, before bowing respectfully or making the sign of the cross.
An Orthodox priest recited a prayer, then soldiers saluted by firing guns into the air. According to local media, rallies were taking place in other towns in the region, including Togliatti and Syzran.
In a rare confession, the Russian Ministry of Defense has admitted that 63 soldiers were killed by a Ukrainian strike on New Year’s Eve on a building where they were stationed in Makiivka, a city under Russian occupation in the Donetsk region, of which Moscow claims responsibility. ‘annexation. kyiv evokes a much higher balance sheet.
These losses caused shock in Russia, as well as an avalanche of criticism from nationalist commentators who nevertheless favored military intervention.
The emotion was heightened by the fact that the soldiers killed were reservists who had been mobilized.
“I haven’t slept for three days“, said during the ceremony in Samara Ekaterina Kolotovkina, wife of a Russian general and president of an association close to the army, the Council of Women of the 2nd Combined Army of the Guards.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the missiles were fired from HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, a weapon supplied by the United States to Ukrainian forces.
The slaughter of Makiïvka has sparked a new peak of anger and calls to punish those responsible.
Several voices were raised in particular to denounce the fact that ammunition would have been stored in the same building used to house the soldiers, who were also authorized to use their mobile phones, allowing their geolocation by the Ukrainian gunners.
“What conclusions will be drawn? Who will be punished?“, launched the communist deputy Mikhaïl Matveïev, elected in Samara.
Several pro-war commentators, widely followed on social networks, also disputed the toll of 63 dead, underestimated according to them.