Russia blames soldiers' mobile phones for the missile attack-News Focus bd

Russia says a missile strike in Ukraine that killed 89 Russian soldiers earlier this year was carried out by monitoring the soldiers' mobile phone use. Soldiers stationed at a college in Makiivka, Donetsk region of Ukraine, were attacked shortly after midnight on January 1.

Tributes are paid to the fallen soldiers in Makiivka with flowers

The Russian military says soldiers were using mobile phones despite a ban on them. Following that they are targeted.

How many people were actually killed in that attack could not be verified. However, this is the highest casualty figure Russia has ever admitted in the war.

Russia said at least six rockets from the US-made Hammers rocket system were fired at the technical college at around 1 a.m. on January 1. Two of these were destroyed in the air. The other four hit college. In a statement published on Telegram on Wednesday, the Russian military said among those killed in the attack was regimental deputy chief Lt. Col. Bachurin.

The statement said it had become clear that troops were using mobile phones extensively despite being banned from being within range of Ukraine's missiles, which led to the attack."Because of this, the enemy was able to identify the location of (our) military personnel, determine the location of the attack and launch a missile attack," the Russian statement said. According to the Russian side, the officials responsible for this will be brought to justice after the investigation. Also, measures are being taken to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

Earlier it was reported that 63 people were killed by Russia in that attack, but now that number is reported to be 89 people. However, there is no way to objectively verify the actual number of casualties. Moscow has rarely released information on casualties.

Wikipedia: Russian Armed Force

At the time of the missile attack, the technical college was loaded with new recruits. They were part of the 300,000 reserve troops that Vladimir Putin called up last September. A lot of ammunition was also stored nearby. After the attack, many Russian analysts and politicians accused the military of incompetence, saying it was wrong to allow soldiers to stay in such a vulnerable area.

Pavel Gubarev, a former top pro-Russian official in Donetsk, said housing so many soldiers in such a house was a "criminal offense".

"If those responsible are not punished, it will be worse," he says.

Andrei Medvedev, the deputy speaker of Moscow's local parliament, said the soldiers might be blamed. But the real blame should be on the commanders who decided to allow so many troops to stay in one place. Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a compensation of five million rubles (57,000 to 69,000 pounds) to the families of each of the soldiers killed.

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