Mourners gather to lay flowers in the Russian city of Samara after scores of Russian soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)Russia on Wednesday blamed soldiers illegally using their mobile phones for a deadly Ukrainian missile strike that killed 89 of Vladimir Putin's troops.
Four Ukrainian rockets hit a temporary Russian barracks based at a college in Makiivka, in the occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on New Year's Eve.
Moscow insisted that the Ukrainians were able to discover the position of its base because of the illegal mass use of mobile phones by servicemen.
“This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' location for a missile strike,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
However, one of the country's most prominent war correspondents Semyon Pegov, awarded the Order of Courage by Putin in 2022, questioned the excuse.
In a Telegram post, he said the troops could easily have been located by drone surveillance and intelligence, not necessarily through mobile phone signals.
“The story of ‘mobiles’ is not very convincing,” Mr Pegov said. “I rarely say this - but this is the case when it would probably be better to remain silent, at least until the end of the investigation. As such it looks like an outright attempt to smear the blame.”
Mr Pegov also said that the number of casualties would likely rise.
Moscow originally said 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the weekend strike. This rose to 89 on Wednesday. It is thought to be the deadliest single episode of the war for Moscow’s forces.
It comes amid mounting anger among some Russian commentators, who are increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine after an increasing number of blows on the battlefield in recent months.
More than 25,000 Russian soldiers are believed to have died in Ukraine since Moscow launched its full scale invasion last February.
Social media fury has mainly been directed at military commanders rather than Putin, who has not commented publicly on the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made no mention of the attack in his Tuesday's night address.
Ukraine's military has said it launched a strike that resulted in the loss of Russian equipment and possibly personnel near Makiivka. But gave no further details.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) in London confirmed the assault and said it was likely the school building was being used to store ammunition.
British intelligence chiefs said the Russian military has “a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war”, but the strike highlighted how “unprofessional practices” were contributing to Russia’s high casualty rate.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 04 January 2023
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) January 4, 2023
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/sTvI8nDoqa
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/hxvMq4spju
In its morning briefing the MoD said: “Ukraine struck a school building in the Russian-held town of Makiyivka near Donetsk city, which Russia had almost certainly taken over for military use.
“The building was completely destroyed and, as the Russian MoD confirmed, 89 Russian personnel were killed.
“Given the extent of the damage, there is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike creating secondary explosions.
“The building was only 12.5km from the Avdiivka sector of front line, one of the most intensely contested areas of the conflict.
“The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war, but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate.”
