The Russian Defense Ministry has increased to 89 the number of its service members killed in a recent Ukrainian missile attack on a school housing soldiers in Makiivka in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region and the attack on unauthorized use of mobile phones by repatriated his forces.
While Ukraine claimed about 400 Russian soldiers were killed in the rocket attack in the first minutes of New Year’s Day on Sunday, Moscow had claimed as of Wednesday that 63 Russian soldiers had been killed.
Russia’s initial admission of 63 deaths was already highly unusual, as it was the largest loss of life in a single Moscow-confirmed raid since it began invading Ukraine in February 2022.
“The number of our dead comrades has risen to 89,” Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov said in a video statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry early Wednesday. The death toll increased after more bodies were found under rubble in the town of Makiivka, he said.
Russian soldiers’ use of cellphones was responsible for the attack, Sevryukov added.
“It is already obvious that the main reason for what happened was the staff turning on and massive use of cell phones – contrary to the ban – within range of enemy weapons,” he said.
“This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers’ location for a missile attack.”
The devastating attack on a vocational school turned military headquarters has sparked anger among Russian nationalists and some lawmakers, who are once again questioning the military strategy of Moscow commanders in Ukraine.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Igor Girkin, a former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer who was instrumental in starting the first war in the Donbass region in 2014, said ammunition and military equipment were stored in the buildings were reported in which the Russian soldiers contributed to the strength of the explosion.
Girkin blamed Russia’s “untrainable” generals for the losses.
The anger on social media is aimed at Russia’s military commanders rather than President Vladimir Putin.
The Institute for the Study of War said pro-Russian military bloggers dismissed the cellphone statement as a “lie” and accused the Russian command of “criminal negligence” in not dispersing its forces in smaller groups further from the front lines have .
“Such profound military failures will continue to complicate Putin’s efforts to mollify Russia’s pro-war community and maintain the dominant narrative in the domestic information space,” the institute said.
NEW: A devastating Ukrainian #HIMARS Attack on a Russian base in #Makiivka, #Donetsk Oblast drew significant criticism of the Russian military leadership in the Russian information space on December 31. At the latest #Ukraine with @critical threats: https://t.co/ou4m9DyAAq pic.twitter.com/8Q7wXA44cp
— ISW (@TheStudyofWar) January 3, 2023
The Russian Defense Ministry said four missiles from US-made HIMARS launchers hit the building, adding that “due to the detonation of the HIMARS missile warheads, the ceilings of the building collapsed.”
“Currently, a commission is working to investigate the circumstances of what happened,” Sevryukov said, adding that measures would be taken to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future and those responsible for security failures would be punished.
The Defense Ministry’s revised death toll comes as mourners gathered in several cities in the Volga region of Samara — where some of the military personnel killed in the attack came from — to mourn the dead.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not mention the attack in a video address 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 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,” Zelenskyi said in the video address.
“We have to disrupt this Russian scenario. We are preparing for this. The terrorists must lose. Any attempt on their new offensive must fail,” he continued.
In Russia, a little-known patriotic group that supports the widows of Russian soldiers is calling on Putin to order a large-scale mobilization of millions of Russian men to ensure victory in Ukraine.
Putin plans to speak with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia’s Interfax news agency — 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.