Hawkish voices have called for an increase in the war effort after setbacks such as loss of occupied territory and high rates of death and injury.
Some prominent Russian military bloggers have criticized the claims of the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Let’s talk about ‘hoax’,” wrote a prominent pro-war military blogger on the Telegram messaging app who posts under the name Military Informant and has more than half a million subscribers.
“It is not clear to us who, and for what reason, decided that 600 Ukrainian soldiers died inside, if the building was not actually hit (even the light remained on).
“Instead of the actual destruction of enemy personnel, which would have been a worthy response, a specifically media operation of retaliation was invented.”
The armies of both Russia and Ukraine have often exaggerated enemy losses, while downplaying their own losses.
About 760 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded in two attacks on Moscow-controlled parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions last week, top Ukrainian military officials said. These reports could not be independently verified.