- 89 Russian soldiers killed in New Year’s strike – Ministry of Defence
- Bakhmut on the Eastern Front is still the scene of intense fighting
- Kyiv reiterates the belief that Russia will launch a large-scale mobilization
MOSCOW, Jan 4 (Portal) – Russia’s defense ministry on Wednesday blamed illegal cellphone use by its soldiers for a deadly Ukrainian missile attack that it said killed 89 soldiers, significantly increasing the reported death toll.
Moscow earlier said 63 Russian soldiers were killed in the weekend’s strike. The ministry’s response came amid mounting anger from some Russian commentators, who have become increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine.
Most of the anger on social media has been directed at military commanders rather than at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has not commented publicly on the attack, which came in another blow to the major battlefield retreats of recent months.
The Russian Defense Ministry said four Ukrainian missiles hit a makeshift Russian barracks at a vocational school in Makiivka, a sister city to the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Although an official investigation was launched, the main reason for the attack was clearly illegal mass use of cellphones by soldiers, the ministry said.
“This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers’ location for a missile attack,” said a statement released Wednesday just after 1 a.m. in Moscow (Tuesday 2200 GMT).
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who rarely comments on specific Ukrainian military strikes, did not mention the attack in a video address on Tuesday, in which he said Russia would launch a major offensive to improve its fortunes.
“We have no doubt that the current masters of Russia will throw down everything they have left and everyone they can round up to try to turn the tide of the war and at least delay their defeat,” Zelenskyy said in one video address.
“We have to disrupt this Russian scenario. We are preparing for it. The terrorists must lose. Any attempt on their new offensive must fail,” he continued.
Ukraine’s military said it launched a strike that led to Russian losses of equipment and possible personnel near Makiivka. But no further details have been given.
Russian nationalist bloggers and some pro-Russian officials in the region put the death toll in Makiivka in the hundreds, although some say these estimates are exaggerated.
BACHMUT FIGHTS
General Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said the situation on the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut was particularly difficult.
Russian forces have repeatedly attempted to take Bakhmut and the surrounding area, in some cases literally advancing over the bodies of their own soldiers, Zaluzhny wrote on the Telegram messaging app, saying Ukrainian forces are holding out.
A little-known patriotic group supporting the widows of Russian soldiers is calling on Putin to order a large-scale mobilization of millions of men and close the borders to ensure victory in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy reiterated Ukrainian claims that Moscow is planning a full-scale mobilization, a move Russian officials say is not currently being considered.
A US State Department spokesman said Washington had seen reports “that the Ukrainian military had attacked a Russian military barracks storing ammunition on Ukrainian territory,” resulting in many Russian deaths. “We also read reports that many of these soldiers were new recruits.”
Putin plans to speak with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax, the latest in a series of talks the two men have had since the war began.
Turkey last year acted as an intermediary alongside the United Nations to secure a deal allowing grain exports from Ukrainian ports, but the chances of serious peace talks appear slim as fighting rages on.
Ukrainian Gen. Zaluzhny summed up a conversation with US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Tuesday, thanking the American for his help in deploying anti-missile weapon systems, which Kyiv says it always has knock out more of the Russian missiles they are targeting power generation plants.
Zaluzhny said he discussed what equipment Ukraine needs to increase its chances against Russia, a message senior officials hammer in every day.
“Right now is the moment when we should strengthen our defense together with our partners,” said Zelenskiy.
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Zelenskyy that he could count on Britain’s long-term support “as demonstrated by the recent delivery of more than 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles,” Sunak’s office said on Tuesday.
Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which he describes as a “special military operation” to ward off threats to Russian security and protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of unprovoked imperialist-style territorial appropriation.
Reporting by Portal bureaus; Writing by David Ljunggren, Grant McCool and Stephen Coates; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Michael Perry
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