Russia's defense ministry attributed the lethal missile attack by Ukrainian forces to its troops' impermissible use of cell phones, as the death toll dramatically increased on Wednesday.
Moscow first reported that 63 Russian servicemen were killed in the weekend onslaught, while Kyiv stated the number was closer to 400 dead and 300 wounded in the Ukraine missile attack, according to a report from Euronews.
Some Russian pundits are becoming more and more outspoken about what they regard as a lackadaisical campaign in Ukraine, and this prompted a response from the defense ministry.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not made any public statements on the Russia Makiivka attack, which was another setback following huge combat defeats in recent months of the Russia-Ukraine War.
Russian officials have claimed that four Ukrainian missiles struck a makeshift barracks at a vocational college in Makiivka, the eastern Ukrainian twin city of Donetsk, which is now under Russian occupation.
Despite an official investigation being opened, the ministry has said that widespread unauthorized usage of mobile phones by personnel was the primary basis for the assault. It added that its rival was able to "track and determine the coordinates" of Russian troops' position for a missile attack because of this.
The statement was released early on Wednesday morning, Moscow time.
Regiment's Deputy Commander Killed
Russia claims that a HIMARS rocket system, manufactured in the United States, was used to launch six rockets at a vocational school on New Year's eve, the BBC reported. Two rockets were intercepted by a Russian military aircraft.
Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense released a statement confirming that Lt. Col. Bachurin, the regiment's second-in-command, was among the dead.
According to the statement, the Russia Makiivka attack is being looked into by a committee. Responsible officials will be brought to justice, and that measures were being made to avoid a recurrence.
Different Death Toll Reports
Casualty estimates differ. Reuters was unable to confirm the death toll without help from authorities. A source close to Donetsk's Russia-installed separatist leadership told the media outlet that scores of people had been killed in the hit, a number that was corroborated by Monday's statement from the Russian defense ministry.
Russia frequently downplayed death estimates, notably saying that just one man perished when the warship Moskva sank in April 2022, per Al Jazeera.
Ukraine reports a considerably greater death toll, estimating 400 people lost their lives in one of the worst attacks in the Russia-Ukraine War.
Numerous Russian military bloggers, who have amassed sizable followings by fusing pro-Kremlin lobbying with unfiltered reporting on the situation on the front, have also provided casualty counts in the Ukraine missile attack that are somewhat near the Ukrainian figures.
Igor Girkin, a former officer in the Federal Security Service (FSB) who had a key role in sparking the original 2014 fighting in the Donbas, said on the messaging app Telegram that "many hundreds" had died or were wounded.
Girkin said that explosives and military supplies were stashed in the structures, which contributed to the intensity of the Russia Makiivka attack. He said the defeats were the fault of Russia's "untrainable" generals.
According to the Wagner-affiliated Telegram group Grey Zone, the compound houses about 500 mercenaries.
The vocational school, a massive complex of buildings from the Soviet period, seems to have been virtually obliterated in a Ukraine missile attack video shared on social media and geolocated by Reuters.
