Moscow says Ukrainian rocket strike kills 63 Russian troops

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s defense ministry says 63 of its soldiers have been killed by a Ukrainian strike on a facility in the eastern Donetsk region where military personnel were stationed. Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a HIMARS rocket launch system and two of them were shot down, a Russian defense ministry statement said Monday (Jan. 2, 2023). The strike, using a U.S.-supplied precision weapon that has proven critical in enabling Ukrainian forces to hit key targets, delivered a new setback for Russia which in recent months has reeled from a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Meanwhile, Russia deployed multiple exploding drones in another nighttime attack on Ukraine, officials said Monday.