Status: 04.01.2023 03:56
Russia has revised up the death toll in Ukraine’s Makiivka missile attack to 89. In addition, Moscow announced that the soldiers killed were mainly responsible for the attack on the barracks themselves.
After the Ukrainian attacks on a Russian military base in Makiivka in the Donetsk region, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow corrected the number of its own soldiers killed by more than 20 to 89.
The men and the deputy commander were found after the rocket attack on New Year’s Eve in the rubble of the collapsed reinforced concrete building, said Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov in Moscow at night. Previously there had been talk of 63 deaths.
Ukraine had fired at the shelter with the US Himar multiple rocket launcher.
Moscow cites mobile phones as the main reason
Sevryukov also acknowledged mistakes for the first time, thereby confirming media reports. According to them, the main reason for the “tragedy” was that the soldiers used their mobile phones en masse on New Year’s Eve despite a ban, thereby alerting the Ukrainian side to their location.
Accordingly, the Ukrainian armed forces shot down six rockets, four of which hit and two were intercepted, it said. Ukraine had spoken of 400 dead and 300 injured in Makiivka (Russian: Makejewka).
The investigations are still ongoing, but so much about the background is already clear, said Sevryukov. “This factor allowed the enemy to determine the direction and locate the coordinates of the position of the soldiers in order to carry out the missile strike.” Care is currently being taken to ensure that this does not happen again. In addition, the guilty officials would be held accountable.
“Sensitive and critical questions”, Demian von Osten, ARD Moscow, on reactions in Russia after the attack on Makiivka
tagesschau24 5 p.m., 3.1.2023
Repeated reports of momentous Russian mistakes
According to the ministry representative in Moscow, the Himars system from which the shots had been fired was located and destroyed. In addition, in return fire, Russian troops in the Donetsk region destroyed four Himars launch pads, four combat vehicles, more than 800 projectiles and killed more than 200 nationalists and foreign legionnaires. This information could not be verified independently.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
In the past, too, there were repeated reports of serious mistakes made by Russian commanders in this war. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly stressed that the “enemy’s stupidity” makes it easy for the military to achieve success. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin has already suffered numerous defeats in the invasion of Ukraine that he began on February 24.