Russia says phone use allowed Ukraine to target its troops

KYIV, Ukraine — Unauthorised use of cell phones by Russian soldiers led to a deadly Ukrainian rocket attack on the facility where they were stationed, according to the Russian military, as it raised the death toll from the weekend attack to 89, AP reported.

Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that phone signals allowed Kyiv’s forces to “determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel” and launch a strike.

The Russian military is taking unspecified measures to “prevent similar tragic incidents in the future,” Sevryukov said, and promised to punish officials responsible for the blunder.

The attack, one of the deadliest on the Kremlin’s forces since the start of the war over 10 months ago, occurred one minute into the new year, according to Sevryukov.

It was the latest blow to the Kremlin’s military prestige as it struggles to progress with its invasion of its neighbor and stirred renewed criticism inside Russia of the way the war is being conducted amid a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukrainian forces fired six rockets from a US-provided HIMARS multiple launch system at a building “in the area of Makiivka” where the soldiers were stationed. Two rockets were downed but four hit the building and detonated, prompting the collapse of the structure.

Details of the strike have trickled out in recent days.

UK intelligence officials said on Wednesday that Moscow’s “unprofessional” military practices were likely partly to blame for the high casualty rate in Makiivka.

“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 Defense Ministry said in a Twitter post.

In the same post, the ministry said that the building struck by Ukrainian missiles was little more than 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from the front line near Avdiivka, within “one of the most contested areas of the conflict.” Both Makiivka and Avdiivka, a key target of Russia’s grinding offensive in the Donetsk region, lie on the outskirts of its namesake capital.

“The Russian military has a record of unsafe ammunition storage from well before the current war, but this incident highlights how unprofessional practices contribute to Russia’s high casualty rate,” the update added.