Kyiv,UKRAINE (AP) Jan,4– Unauthorized use of mobile phones by Russian soldiers led to a deadly Ukrainian missile attack on a facility where they were stationed, the Russian military said.
Lieutenant General Sergey Sevlyukov said in a statement late Tuesday that the Kyiv army was able to “determine the coordinates of the military personnel’s position” by telephone signal and launch the attack.
Sevryukov said the Russian military is taking unspecified steps to “prevent similar tragic events in the future” and has promised to punish officials who made the mistake.
According to Sevryukov, the attack was one of the deadliest attacks on Kremlin forces since the war began more than ten months ago, and occurred one minute after New Year’s. It was the latest blow to the military prestige of the Kremlin, which has been struggling to advance its neighbor’s aggression, and has sparked renewed criticism within Russia over the way the war is being waged amid a successful counterattack in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military fired six of his rockets from his US-supplied HIMARS multiple-launch system at buildings in the “Makiyivka district” where soldiers were stationed. Two rockets were launched, but four hit the building and exploded, causing the building to collapse.
British intelligence said on Wednesday that Moscow’s “unprofessional” military operations were likely partly responsible for the high casualty rate in Makyewka.
“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 U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Twitter post.
In the same post, the ministry said that the building struck by Ukrainian missiles was little more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) from the front line near Avdiivka, within “one of the most contested areas of the conflict.” Both Makiivka and Avdiivka, a key target of Russia’s grinding offensive in the Donetsk region, lie on the outskirts of its namesake capital.
“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,” the update added.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin-appointed leader of the Donetsk region, one of four that Moscow illegally annexed in September, on Wednesday praised the “courage and true heroism” of the dead Russian soldiers.
Denis Pushilin said in a Telegram post that some of those killed tried to pull their comrades from the burning building. In Samara, southwestern Russia, locals gathered Tuesday for an Orthodox church service to mourn the dead.The ceremony was followed by a minute’s silence and wreaths laid at a Soviet-era war memorial, state officials said. Reported by RIA Novosti. According to unconfirmed Russian-language media reports, the victims were reservists mobilized from the area.
The Russian Ministry of Defense, though acknowledging casualties infrequently, initially said 63 soldiers were killed in the attack. However, the death toll rose as emergency services searched the building’s rubble. Among the dead was the deputy commander of the regiment.
According to unconfirmed reports, the death toll is much higher.
The Directorate General of Strategic Communications of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Sunday that about 400 mobilized Russian soldiers were killed and about 300 wounded at a vocational school building in Makyovka. This claim could not be independently verified. A Russian statement said the strike took place in the “Makiivka district” and did not mention vocational schools.
