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Makiivka strike and the war's final day of 2022
Summary
A look back at the attack on a Donetsk Oblast barracks on 31 December 2022 and the competing casualty claims that followed.
What did the last day of 2022 reveal about the war's direction? On 31 December 2022, Ukraine was reported to have struck a vocational school building in Makiivka that served as military barracks for Russian mobilised soldiers.
Ukraine claimed that hundreds of Russian soldiers were killed and injured. Russian authorities acknowledged several casualties but suggested lower figures. That gap between the two accounts was already evident on the day itself.
The wider backdrop
The strike came two days after Russia carried out a series of drone and cruise missile attacks on 29 December 2022. Strikes were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhytomyr, and at least three people were injured.
What later accounts added
The attack took place during the night of 31 December 2022 and 1 January 2023, and targeted the building of Professional Technical School No. 19. It was carried out with HIMARS rockets and destroyed the building and nearby military equipment.
The casualty figures diverged sharply. Ukrainian officials claimed 400 Russian troops had been killed. Russian officials initially confirmed 63 deaths, and later raised the toll to 89 two days afterwards.
Why the figures matter
On 31 December 2022, the two sides offered very different numbers, and the Russian acknowledgement was partial. The later revision of the Russian toll is a reminder that first claims in wartime were often incomplete, and that the full scale of an attack could take days to emerge.
