Mobile chatter betrayed Russian soldiers to Ukrainian missile

Hundreds gathered to mourn the troops in a rare public display of anger and grief as the toll rises to 89.

Mourners turn out in Samara on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

The toll from a Ukrainian New Year strike in Makiivka has risen to nearly 90, Moscow said on Wednesday, after Russians gathered to mourn the troops in a rare public display of anger and grief.

Russia said more bodies had been found under the rubble in the town in the Russian-controlled region of Donetsk and the toll had risen to 89. The defence ministry declared that the tragedy had taken place because Russian troops had used mobile phones, giving away their location to Ukrainian forces.

Russia said on Monday that 63 troops had been killed, the biggest loss of life from a single strike reported by Moscow since the start of the offensive in February.

“The number of our dead comrades has gone up to 89,” Lieutenant General Sergei Sevryukov said. More bodies had been found under the rubble, he added.

Ukraine struck a temporary base in Makiivka at 12.01am on January 1, using US-supplied HIMARS rocket systems, General Sevryukov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin had just delivered his New Year’s address. He hailed “our heroes” fighting in Ukraine and declared that “historical rightness is on our side”.

Ukraine has taken responsibility for the strike and said the toll could be much higher. Russian war correspondents said many of the victims were reservists recently mobilised into the army.

The admission of the heavy losses came after the war correspondents, who have gained influence in recent months, accused Russia’s top commanders of fatal incompetence.

General Sevryukov said the use of mobile phones by soldiers had led to the deadly strike.

“Currently, a commission is working to investigate the circumstances of what has happened,” he said. “But it is already obvious that the main reason for what has happened was the turning on and massive use by personnel of mobile phones within reach of enemy weapons contrary to the ban.”

He said measures were being taken to ensure such incidents would not happen in the future, and all those responsible would be punished.

The new announcement came after mourners gathered in several cities of the Volga region of Samara – where some of the servicemen came from – to mourn the dead. About 200 people laid roses and wreaths in a central square in the city of Samara as an Orthodox priest recited a prayer.

Soldiers also fired a gun salute at the commemoration, where some mourners could be seen holding flags for the ruling United Russia party.

“It’s very tough, it’s scary. But we cannot be broken. Grief unites,” Ekaterina Kolotovkina, head of a group of army spouses, said at the ceremony.

The deaths sparked heavy criticism in Russia of the army’s senior command, including from nationalist commentators favourable to the military intervention in Ukraine.

There have been reports that the servicemen were quartered in an unprotected building which was destroyed because munitions were stored on the premises and detonated in the strike.

The Telegram account Rybar, which has about a million followers, said it was “criminally naive” for the army to store ammunition next to sleeping quarters. But much of the criticism was focused on the incompetence of the top brass and not Mr Putin who sent troops to Ukraine last February.

AFP