Ukraine struck the Russian force base with a missile strike on New Year, which killed almost 90 Russian soldiers. But now Russia has issued a statement that says that the strike was made possible by the Russian soldiers who were using their cell phones. The Russian military officials said that these soldiers were using banned cell phones, which allowed the Ukrainian army to track down their location and then strike with a missile. According to Ukraine, a total of six missiles were fired using the Himars rocket system, made by the US, killing almost 400 Russian soldiers and injuring over 300 soldiers. The Russian army had set their base at the vocational college for conscripts in Makiivka. Russia is investigating the situation and the outcomes of the Ukrainian missile strike. As a primary outcome of this investigation, Russian officials have blamed the soldiers who were using banned cell phones while being inside Ukrainian tracking range. This gave the Ukrainian army the exact coordinates of where the Russian military officials were residing. Russian officials even said that the responsible bodies in this will be prosecuted and measures to avoid such mistakes in the future are being fetched.
Even though the Ukrainian officials said that the missile strike managed to kill almost 400 Russian soldiers, Russia is saying that the missile strike killed 89 soldiers. Earlier, Russia had admitted that the missile track had killed only 63 Russian soldiers. This has followed Russia’s practice of not admitting actual war casualties. The vocational college at Makiivka was filled with conscripts, meaning Russians who were forced to join the military. It is rare for them to have any experience with war or anything related to the military. These conscripts were part of 300,000 Russians who were drafted into the military in September of last year. This site was also being used by the Russian military to store their ammunition and other military supplies. The Ukrainian missile strike has managed to reduce all the Russian military commendations down to nothing, leaving the troops vulnerable to further attack.
While the Russian military officials have blamed the conscripts, Russian politicians and public figures have blamed the military for not performing their jobs properly. According to many from Russia, the military officials should have made sure that the conscripts are not having access to such things which could result in exposing their location. Pavel Gubarev, a Russian politician said that the decision of the Russian military to hold a high number of conscripts in one building was criminal negligence. He further added that whoever is responsible for such negligence should be held accountable otherwise such mistakes will repeat in the future. Another Russian politician, Andrei Medvedev, said that the way the situation is being handled was obvious. He said that the soldiers getting blamed instead of commanders who put them in such a position was expected. This missile strike from Ukraine has caused Russia to address the largest number of deaths in one attack, although it is nowhere close to the number that Ukraine is claiming. Russian President, Vladimir Putin has provided compensation of 5 million roubles to the families of soldiers who lost their lives.
