In Russian Telegram channels, new information appeared about the Ukrainian HIMARS attack on the Russian barracks in Makiivka, in particular, that the soldiers who were in the building were so drunk that only relatively sober ones managed to escape.

It was previously known that the salvo fire of American missiles took place a minute or two after midnight, when the Russian servicemen, who were stationed in the boarding school of the former PTU, were celebrating the New Year. Their commanders survived because they celebrated the New Year elsewhere, away from their soldiers.

But now the administrators of two Russian Telegram channels, Samara Protocol and Samara Against War, have interviewed several survivors, rescuers and relatives of those caught in the attack, and independent researcher Chris Owen has summarized the findings on his page. Twitter.

A soldier who was sent to help clear the rubble and find the dead said nearly 300 Russian servicemen had been killed, while another confirmed earlier reports that about 400 people were inside the building at the time of the attack.

Shortly before midnight, one of the Russian soldiers called his son and informed him that the men were “preparing for a feast, grilling kebabs, setting the table, that the last call is at 10:00 p.m. Moscow time, eating, and then going to bed because they are very tired.”

However, one of the survivors reported that the soldiers were drunk, which affected their chances of survival.

“Only those who were alert enough to react quickly and escape survived. After the first explosions, there was confusion and some people started shooting at each other,” he said, noting that many of the soldiers were recruits who were mobilized regardless of their physical condition.

“They took everyone, regardless of form: two legs, two arms – go to battle. There was no way to escape, the alternative was straight to prison,” said this victim.

Death and life in the Russian army

Relatives of the soldiers reported that they were unsuccessfully persuaded not to go to fight.

“I told him don’t go, don’t go. But he was persistent. He said he couldn’t run away,” one of them said.

Some stories of heroism during the attack also appeared on Russian Telegram channels: Sergeant Artem Apanasov was awarded the Order of Courage of Russia for saving his comrades.

He would have escaped the attack, even if wounded, either by jumping out of the window or by being thrown through it from the 3rd floor of the building by one of the explosions.

It also seems that in some situations it was quite random who survived and who died. One of the soldiers was thrown from the building by the explosion, with only a slight wound to the shoulder, and the man lying next to him was killed. However, most of the fighters remained buried under the rubble.

Russian authorities have censored damage from an attack using HIMARS systems

The regional government of Samara, the Russian region where most of the soldiers are from, paid for the funerals, and one of the relatives of those killed said the local administration “did the right thing, helped us in every way, apologized for what happened and expressed condolences.”

But many other relatives of the fighters in Makiivska barracks complain that almost 3 weeks after the attack, they still haven’t heard from them. More than 50,000 people signed a petition demanding the publication of the list of the dead.

However, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it would not publish the list of victims, saying it would be useful to foreign intelligence services.

Relatives of the fighters say that they unsuccessfully called commissariats, hospitals and the emergency line set up by the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, and also tried to call Makeivka for information.

“I am amazed at how everything works in our country. When something happens for the first time, they (officials) talk for several days, and then there is silence on all fronts,” says one of the man’s relatives.

However, many families are afraid to talk about the situation for fear of losing the “coffin money” offered by the authorities or worse.

It also appears that most of the information about the aftermath of the attack appears only on Russian Telegram channels, is that Russian censors systematically remove any posts about it that are published on social networks that are still available in Russia, such as Vkontakte .

Who did Russia blame for the massacre in Makiivka?

“Ukrainian Pravda” also notes that Russian authorities may have found the “culprits” of the massacre, initially accusing the victims of disclosing their location using mobile phones to talk to relatives on New Year’s Eve.

The deputy police chief of Makiivka and 7 of his police officers were brought to criminal liability, all were detained on the charge of “negligence”.

What exactly they are accused of is not known, as it was the Russian army that housed the soldiers in the building that also stored the ammunition that exploded during the attack.

There are reports that the police were later sent to the front line in Donetsk, although there is currently no indication that any action has been taken against the military command responsible for the situation.

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