The use of mobile phones by soldiers on New Year’s Eve led to the deadly Ukrainian attack on Makeyevka in eastern Ukraine. This was officially recognized by the head of the Eastern Military District of the Russian army, Gen. Sergei Sevryukov in a video message released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday morning.
“At the moment, a commission is working to investigate the circumstances of what happened, but it is already clear that the main reason … for the ban on their use,” he said.
A rocket attack on the night of January 1 in the village of Makeevka in the Russian-annexed part of the Donetsk region left several recently mobilized Russian soldiers dead.
The Russian Defense Ministry initially announced that 63 people were killed in a Ukrainian attack with four US missiles on a “temporary settlement point”. These claims have now been corrected and there are now reports of 89 dead.
Without claiming responsibility for the attack, the Ukrainian Army’s Strategic Communications Directorate reported on its Telegram channel about 400 killed and 300 wounded in an attack on a school building where mobilized troops were housed.
The strike came minutes after Russian television broadcast President Putin’s New Year’s greeting, which appeared on the screen surrounded by military personnel.
Some Russian nationalists and bloggers blamed the incident on the army command, which stationed many soldiers in a post near an ammunition depot. The command denies any responsibility and claims that the fault lies with the soldiers themselves.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to pay 5 million rubles ($68,800) in aid to the families of Russian soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine.
The decree, which includes additional social guarantees for Russian soldiers, security forces personnel and their families, was published on the website of the Russian Legal Information Agency.
At the same time, 3 million rubles ($41,300) will be paid to soldiers who have been injured or suffered trauma during the war.
The decision, which will take effect from the date of its signing, will affect the families of soldiers who have lost their lives and those who have been injured since February 24, when the Russo-Ukrainian war began.
