Russia blames its soldiers' mobile phone use for deadly missile strike - Reuters

KYIV, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry connected Wednesday blamed the amerciable usage of mobile phones for a deadly Ukrainian rocket onslaught that killed 89 servicemen, raising the reported decease toll significantly.

Moscow antecedently said 63 Russian soldiers were killed successful the play strike. The ministry's absorption came amid mounting choler among immoderate Russian commentators, who are progressively vocal astir what they spot arsenic a half-hearted run successful Ukraine.

Most of the choler connected societal media was directed astatine subject commanders alternatively than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Russian defence ministry said 4 Ukrainian missiles deed a impermanent Russian barracks successful a vocational assemblage successful Makiivka, duplicate metropolis of the Russian-occupied determination superior of Donetsk successful eastbound Ukraine.

Although an authoritative probe has been launched, the main crushed for the onslaught was intelligibly the amerciable wide usage of mobile phones by servicemen, the ministry said.

"This origin allowed the force to way and find the coordinates of the soldiers' determination for a rocket strike," it said successful a statement issued conscionable aft 1 a.m. successful Moscow connected Wednesday (2200 GMT Tuesday).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made nary notation of the onslaught successful a video code connected Tuesday successful which helium said Russia was acceptable to motorboat a large violative to amended its fortunes.

"We person nary uncertainty that existent masters of Russia volition propulsion everything they person near and everyone they tin circular up to effort to crook the tide of the warfare and astatine slightest hold their defeat," Zelenskiy said successful a video address.

"We person to disrupt this Russian scenario. We are preparing for this. The terrorists indispensable lose. Any effort astatine their caller violative indispensable fail," helium continued.

Ukraine's subject has said it launched a onslaught that resulted successful Russian nonaccomplishment of instrumentality and perchance unit adjacent Makiivka. But it has fixed nary further details.

Russian nationalist bloggers and immoderate pro-Russian officials successful the portion enactment the Makiivka decease toll successful the hundreds, though immoderate accidental that those estimates are exaggerated.

The onslaught was different stroke to Putin and what helium calls a "special subject operation" to deter threats to Russian information and to support Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies impeach Moscow of an unprovoked imperialist-style drawback for territory.

BAKHMUT FIGHTING

General Valery Zaluzhny, commandant successful main of the Ukrainian equipped forces, said the concern connected the beforehand enactment adjacent the eastbound municipality of Bakhmut was peculiarly tough.

Russian forces person repeatedly tried to instrumentality Bakhmut and the surrounding area, successful immoderate cases virtually advancing implicit the corpses of their ain soldiers, Zaluzhny wrote connected the Telegram messaging app, saying Ukrainian forces were hanging on.

A small known patriotic radical which supports the widows of Russian soldiers is calling connected Putin to bid a large-scale mobilisation of millions of men and to adjacent the borders to guarantee triumph successful Ukraine.

Zelenskiy reiterated Ukrainian assertions that Moscow is readying a full-scale mobilisation, a measurement that Russian officials accidental is not presently being considered.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington had seen reports "that the Ukrainian subject struck a Russian subject barracks that stored ammunition wrong of Ukrainian territory" and led to galore Russian deaths. "We person besides work reports that galore of these soldiers were caller recruits."

Putin plans to speech to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan connected Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Interfax, the latest successful a bid of conversations the 2 men person had since the commencement of the war.

Turkey acted arsenic mediator alongside the United Nations past twelvemonth to found a woody allowing atom exports from Ukrainian ports but the chances of superior bid talks look remote, particularly arsenic warring continues to rage.

Ukraine's General Zaluzhny, summarising a Tuesday telephone with U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, thanked the American for helping guarantee the proviso of anti-missile weapons systems that Kyiv says is knocking retired much and much of the Russian missiles aimed astatine power-generating plants.

Zaluzhny said helium had discussed what instrumentality Ukraine needed to summation its chances against Russia, a connection that elder officials person hammered connected a regular basis.

"Right present is the infinitesimal when, unneurotic with our partners, we should fortify our defence," said Zelenskiy.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Zelenskiy that helium tin number connected Britain for support implicit the agelong tally "as demonstrated by the caller transportation of much than 1,000 anti-air missiles", Sunak's bureau said connected Tuesday.

Reporting by Reuters bureaux; penning by David Ljunggren and Grant McCool; Editing by Cynthia Osterman

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