Russia raises death toll in Ukrainian rocket attack, blames cell-phone use

Bloomberg

Russia raised the death toll in a Ukrainian rocket attack on New Year’s Day, to 89, the largest such loss it’s yet acknowledged in the war, blaming soldiers’ mobile-phone use for exposing their location.
But Russian military bloggers, who have often been sharply critical of the Defense Ministry’s handling of the war, accused commanders of negligence for stationing mobilised conscripts next to a weapons depot. Its detonation multiplied the casualties after Ukrainian forces fired at the base in the Russian-controlled part of eastern Ukraine with US-supplied Himars multiple rocket launchers.
The Russian Defense Ministry said more corpses had been found under the rubble, raising the estimate for the number killed to 89 from 63 reported earlier.
It said the “main reason” was soldiers’ large-scale use of mobile phones in defiance of orders, which allowed Ukrainian forces to locate their coordinates for the strike, according to a Telegram statement.
Russia in recent months has suffered a series of battlefield reverses in Ukraine, losing increasing ground to Kyiv’s forces in southern and eastern regions that the Kremlin illegally annexed in September despite only partly controlling them. Russian opinion polls show support for peace talks outweighs those who back continuing the war.
Nationalist bloggers following the Russian invasion, now in its 11th month, have been increasingly critical of the military’s performance.
Rybar, a telegram channel with 1.1 million subscribers, said army top brass were trying to shift the responsibility onto rank-and-file soldiers. “Everyone is to blame, except for the military commanders,” it said.
Rybar estimated the number of dead at 110. Ukraine’s military first reported that 400 Russians were killed in the strike in Makiyivka in Donetsk region, later announcing it that the death toll was being “clarified.”
Many of the victims came from the Volga region of Samara. Local residents vented their frustration on social media, voicing anger that flags for the ruling United Russia party were seen at funerals.