6 hours ago
Credit, Getty Images
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People gathered to pay tribute to fallen soldiers in Makiivka
Russia says a missile attack on Sunday (01/01) that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers hit the target because they were using their mobile phones.
The use of banned phones allowed the enemy to locate their target, officials said.
According to Ukraine, 400 soldiers were killed and another 300 wounded in the attack on a school for conscripts in Makiivka, in occupied Donetsk.
That was the highest death toll in an attack that Russia has acknowledged since the war began.
Russia said that at 00:01 local time on New Year’s Day, six rockets were fired at a school from a USmade Himars missile system. According to the Russians, two missiles were intercepted.
The deputy commander of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Bachurin, was among the dead, the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday (April 1).
A commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident, the statement said.
But according to the Russian government, it would be “obvious” that the main cause of the attack was the presence and “mass use” of mobile phones by soldiers within range of Ukrainian weapons, even though it was forbidden.
“This factor allowed the enemy to determine the location coordinates of military personnel for a missile attack.”
Military personnel found responsible in the investigation will be prosecuted, the statement said. Russia is taking steps to avoid similar incidents in the future.
In Wednesday’s statement, Russia increased the previously reported number of Russian soldiers killed in the attack to 8963. It is not possible to independently verify this data. It is extremely rare for Moscow to confirm battlefield casualties.
The school targeted by the attack was full of recruits. In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that 300,000 troops would be called up. The attack also destroyed ammunition stored near the site.
Credit, Portal
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The building housing the recruits was practically destroyed in the Ukrainian attack.
Some Russian analysts and politicians accused the military of incompetence, saying troops could not have been stationed in such vulnerable locations.
Pavel Gubarev, a former senior Russian official in Donetsk, called the decision to house a large number of soldiers in one building “criminal negligence”.
“If no one is punished for this, it will only get worse,” he warned.
Deputy Speaker of the Moscow City Parliament Andrei Medvedev said it was likely that the soldiers were responsible for the incident, not the commander who made the decision to house so many people in one place.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Tuesday giving families of National Guard soldiers killed in the line of duty 5 million rubles (about BRL 380,000) each.