The Russian military’s top brass came under heavy scrutiny on Wednesday after details emerged about how the latest Ukrainian artillery attack killed 89 Russian soldiers and possibly many more.
Going by the scene, where the soldiers were temporarily stationed in the Russian-held eastern Ukrainian town of Makiivka, seems like a recipe for disaster, reported news agency the Associated Press. Hundreds of Russian troops were reportedly together in a building close to the front line and well within the range of Ukraine’s Western-supplied precision artillery and most likely closer to an ammunition store which perhaps unknowingly helped Kyiv’s forces to target them.
It was considered one of the deadliest single attacks on the Kremlin’s forces since the war erupted more than 10 months ago. It is also the highest death toll in a single incident acknowledged so far by both sides.
Ukraine’s armed forces said the Makiivka strike killed around 400 Russian soldiers housed in a vocational school building. officials alleged that more than 300 were wounded, according to the report.
'Helpful Narrative' for Moscow to deflect criticism, say experts
While the Russian military pinned the blame on soldiers for their own deaths, Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that their phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel” and launch a strike.
Emily Ferris, a research fellow on Russia and Eurasia at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told the agency it is “very hard to verify” whether cellphone signaling and geolocation were to blame for the accurate strike. Ferris said that Russian soldiers on active duty are not allowed to use phones exactly because there have been so many instances in recent years of them being used for targeting, including by both sides in the Ukraine war. The conflict has made ample use of modern technology.
The fellow stressed that blaming the soldiers makes for a “helpful narrative” for Moscow as it helps deflect criticism and steer attention toward the official cellphone ban.
UK intelligence officials on Wednesday said Moscow’s “unprofessional” military practices were likely partly to blame for the high casualties. “Given the extent of the damage, there is a realistic possibility that ammunition was being stored near to troop accommodation, which detonated during the strike, creating secondary explosions,” the UK defence ministry said on Twitter.
“Moreover, in places where there’s coverage, artillery fire is often adjusted by phone. There are simply no other ways,” Tatarsky wrote in a Telegram post.
A known military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky accused Russian generals of “demonstrating their own stupidity and misunderstanding of what’s going on (among) the troops, where everyone has cellphones.”
“Moreover, in places where there’s coverage, artillery fire is often adjusted by phone. There are simply no other ways,” according to Tatarsky's Telegram post.
Others blamed the decision to station hundreds of troops in one place. “The cellphone story is not too convincing,” military blogger Semyon Pegov wrote. “The only remedy is not to house personnel en masse in large buildings. Simply not to house 500 people in one place but spread them across 10 different locations.”