Following a deadly missile strike by Ukraine killing several Russian soldiers, the Russian defence ministry said that illegal mass use of mobile phones was the "main reason" for the attack, reported Reuters. "This factor allowed the enemy to track and determine the coordinates of the soldiers' location for a missile strike," it said in a statement issued just after 1 a.m. in Moscow on Wednesday (2200 GMT Tuesday).
Moscow also said that the missile strike had killed 89 of its servicemen, significantly raising the reported death toll which they earlier said was 63.
As per the report, the reaction by minsitry came amid mounting anger among some Russian commentators, who are increasingly vocal about what they see as a half-hearted campaign in Ukraine.
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Most of the anger on social media was directed at military commanders rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has not commented publicly on the attack which was another blow after major battlefield retreats in recent months.
In a rare public display of anger and grief, Russians gathered in Samara Oblast and morned the loss of troops in the attack.
The strike carried out by Ukraine took place just after midnight on Sunday, New Year’s Day, on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region, reported CNN citing Ukrainian military, pro-Russian military bloggers and former officials.
The New Year’s Day attack by Ukraine hit a building in the city of Makiivka, where Russian forces were stationed.
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“This was such a deadly attack,” BBC quoted its Russia editor Steve Rosenberg as saying, that “staying silent probably wasn't an option” for Russia which rarely confirms any battlefield casualties.
The number of deaths acknowledged by Moscow is the highest in a single incident since the war began 10 months ago.