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.
Gen. Lt. Sergei Sevryukov said in a statement late Tuesday that phone signals allowed Kyiv's forces to 바카라determine the coordinates of the location of military personnel바카라 and launch a strike.
The Russian military is taking unspecified measures to 바카라prevent similar tragic incidents in the future,바카라 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 neighbour, 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 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 Wednesday that Moscow's 바카라unprofessional바카라 military practices were likely partly to blame for the high casualty rate on the troops.
바카라Given 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,바카라 the UK Defence 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, within 바카라one of the most contested areas of the conflict," in the Donetsk region.
바카라The 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,바카라 the update added.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin-appointed leader of the Donetsk region, one of four that Moscow illegally annexed in September, on Wednesday praised the 바카라courage and true heroism바카라 of the dead Russian soldiers.
Denis Pushilin said in a Telegram post that some of those killed tried to pull their comrades from the burning building.
In Samara, in southwestern Russia, locals on Tuesday gathered for an Orthodox service in memory of the dead. The service was followed by a minute's silence, and flowers were laid at a Soviet-era war memorial, the state RIA Novosti agency reported.
Unconfirmed reports in Russian-language media said the victims were mobilised reservists from the region.
The Russian Defence Ministry, in a rare admission of losses, initially said the strike killed 63 troops. But as emergency crews sifted through the rubble of the building, the death toll mounted. The regiment's deputy commander was among the dead.
Unconfirmed reports put the death toll much higher.
The Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine's armed forces claimed Sunday that around 400 mobilised Russian soldiers were killed in a vocational school building in Makiivka and about 300 more were wounded. That claim couldn't be independently verified. The Russian statement said the strike occurred 바카라in the area of Makiivka바카라 and didn't mention the school.
Ukraine's presidential office said Wednesday that at least five Ukrainian civilians were killed and 13 others were wounded in the country over the previous 24 hours, as Russian forces struck at nine regions in the country's south and east.
Ukraine continues to seek Western help in its fight against the invasion.
At a European Union-Ukraine summit on February 3, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to hold talks with EU Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about continued European support.
The summit will not include the EU's 27 national heads of state and government, officials say. The summit location has not been revealed.
