Hundreds of people gathered yesterday in the Russian cities of Samara and Tolyatti, on the banks of the Volga, in homage to the soldiers killed in the Ukrainian attack on Makiyivka. “I haven't slept for three days; we are constantly in contact with our boys' wives. It's very hard," Yekaterina Kolotovkina, wife of the commander of the Second Guards Army (no relation to the bombed garrison), said in a patriotic address at the World War II Eternal Flame Memorial. The governor of Samara had realized that among the victims were mobilized men from the region. For his part, the governor of the Saratov region had to deny the media that claimed that soldiers from this region had died in Makiyivka.
The deadliest Ukrainian bombing raid in ten months of war has had a considerable impact, from so-called military bloggers, who insisted on massing large numbers of troops in a powder magazine, to Russian upper echelons. While a video has appeared on social networks in which the Minister of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, celebrates New Year's Eve singing in a restaurant, just as his soldiers died on the same night of celebration, the senator and former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grigori Karasin, not only demanded revenge against Ukraine and its NATO allies, but also "a rigorous internal analysis." For his part, legislator and former Senate President Sergei Mironov demanded criminal liability for the leaders who "allowed the concentration of military personnel in an unprotected building" and for "all higher authorities who did not provide the adequate level of security."
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Duma and pro-Kremlin journalist Andrei Medvedev observed that "housing personnel in buildings instead of shelters directly helps the enemy." Medvedev said that authorities, whether civilian or military, must value the lives of Russians. "After ten months of war, it is dangerous and criminal to consider the enemy a fool who does not see anything."
The Russian Defense Ministry did not, in its report yesterday, make any mention of the bombing of Makiyivka and instead stated that in the course of several attacks more than 130 mercenaries had been killed in Donetsk and in another attack near Druzhkivka station, in the same province, had killed 120 Ukrainian soldiers. But, even more remarkable, the report stated that no less than four Himars shuttles (those responsible for the Makíyivka attack) and more than 800 rockets had been destroyed.
The Institute for Studies on War (ISW), based in Washington, ensures that such a high level of criticism against high military commanders is not remembered. "Putin's inability to address criticism and correct flaws in the military campaign may undermine his credibility as a practical war leader," the ISW says.
