Russian nationalists and some lawmakers called for punishment of commanders they accused of ignoring the danger, as anger grew over the killing of dozens of Russian soldiers in one of the worst strikes of the war in Ukraine. Dozens of newly mobilized soldiers sent by Moscow were killed in the attack on Makiivka, in what may be one of the deadliest known incidents involving Russian recruits. The Ukrainian military command said up to 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the incident in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, but this claim has not been independently verified. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 63 Russian servicemen were killed as a result of Ukraine’s attack on the “temporary deployment building” with four US-supplied HIMARS missiles.

The latest on the war in Ukraine, day 314:

07:48 On Monday evening, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that various types of Russian military equipment were damaged or destroyed in Makiivka, The Guardian reports.

Ukraine almost never publicly takes responsibility for attacks from Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine.

But the Ukrainian military called the attack on Makiivka “a blow to Russian manpower and military equipment.”

07:39The air defense of the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula intercepted Ukrainian drones on Monday evening after several days of attacks by Russian kamikaze drones on Ukrainian cities, AFP reported with reference to the Russian news agency TASS.

00:20Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces: 40% of the territories occupied during the Russian invasion are now liberated

Forty percent of the territories occupied since February 24, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, have been liberated over the past year, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, said Monday, as quoted by CNN.

23:53 Zelensky: Russia plans to “exhaust” Ukraine with strikes by Iranian drones

A quick morning summary of the latest events on Tuesday:

• Gas cheaper than before war in Ukraine, but nothing guaranteed for 2023 Almost five times cheaper than in August: The wholesale price of natural gas in Europe fell on Monday to the lowest level since Russia invaded Ukraine, thanks to m what a winter that is saving stocks, but analysts warn that the market will be unpredictable in the coming months, AFP reports.
• Ex-Soviet bloc gas exports fall 45.5% in 2022 Gazprom’s gas exports outside the former Soviet bloc fell 45.5% in 2022 after a year of sharp declines, according to results announced Monday. supplies to Europe after Western sanctions against the offensive. in Ukraine, reports AFP.
• As Putin wants, he wants to regain control of the sea. Russian President Vladimir Putin pays attention to the sea and the strengthening of the fleet. The head of the Kremlin took part in the flag-raising ceremony on three new ships of the Navy, the General Suvorov submarine, the Buyan-type Grad corvette and the Anatoly Shlemov minesweeper, writes Inside Over.
• Heavy losses for Russia: Anger in Russia after Moscow admits it has suffered its worst losses since the start of the war in Ukraine. The official message from Moscow came at a time when social networks have been talking about a deadly attack in Makiivka since Sunday, but the balances spread by different sources are varied. Ukraine, for its part, claimed the attack resulted in 400 deaths, but pro-Russian officials in the region say that is an exaggeration, News.ro reports. Most of them would have been Russian recruits, and the scale of casualties would have been so great because the munitions would have been stored in that school, which in turn exploded during the attack.
• 40% of the territories occupied during the Russian invasion have now been liberated Forty percent of the territories occupied after February 24, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, have been liberated over the past year, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, quoted CNN as saying.
• Former NATO general: A truce is coming in the war in Ukraine. This does not mean peace. “I expect it will happen in the summer, when both sides will say that the war is not going anywhere,” Hans-Lothar Domrese told the Funke media group. The most likely time for such a confrontation is February-May, that is, he said.
• How many Ukrainians would agree to territorial concessions for the sake of peace – survey. A survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on December 4-27 shows that 85% of Ukrainians consider any territorial concessions by Russia unacceptable, “even if because of this the war could last much longer.” “, – writes Kyiv Independent.
• The famous Twitter Ukraine Weapons Traker notes a very important event on the front line: the appearance of new Ukrainian-made ammunition. “Here we see 152-mm OG shells of the 2022 release of the OF-25T – self-propelled howitzers D-20/Msta-B and SPH 2C3/Msta-S can fire them,” the cited source writes.