Dozens of Russian soldiers killed in Ukrainian missile attack New Years Day: report

A building in eastern Ukraine housing Russian soldiers was hit by a Ukrainian missile attack, resulting in at least 60 soldiers being killed, according to reports. 

The Ukrainian military disputed the number and said hundreds were killed, but that number could not be confirmed as of now, according to the New York Times. 

The deaths of the Russian soldiers, estimated as high as 400 by Ukrainian officials, was harshly criticized in Russia by supporters of the war, who argued that "the military was making repeated and costly mistakes, including housing soldiers in dense numbers within striking distance of Ukrainian weapons," the Times also reported.

"The Kiev regime struck with six rockets of the U.S.-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system at the point of temporary deployment of one of the units of the Russian armed forces in the area of ​​the settlement of Makeyevka," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, according to a USA Today report. 

A Russian-owned media organization, RIA Novosti, reported that two of the six missiles fired by the Ukrainian military were shot down.

Former Russian paramilitary commander Igor Girkin said in posts on Telegram that the attacks were severe.

He wrote on the social media app that "many hundreds" were dead and wounded, and said the building temporarily housing the Russian troops was "almost completely destroyed."

While Ukraine has not acknowledged having fired the missiles that killed the Russian troops, the strike is said to reflect a shift in Ukrainian tactics with the American rocket systems they are now using, according to military analyst Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at C.N.A., a research institute in Arlington, Va. "Kyiv has moved from targeting ammunition dumps and supply lines to hitting barracks and other troop concentrations," said Kofman, according to the Times.