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Why did Moscow blame soldiers' phones for Makiivka?
Summary
A retrospective on the Russian defence ministry's raised death toll and its explanation for the New Year strike in Donetsk Oblast.
What did the Russian defence ministry say when it raised the toll from the Makiivka strike? On 3 January 2023, it put the number of soldiers killed in the 31 December Ukrainian missile attack in Donetsk Oblast at 89. It attributed the casualties to the soldiers' use of mobile phones with tracking systems.
The attack hit the building of Professional Technical School No. 19 in Makiivka during the night of 31 December 2022 and 1 January 2023. The strike used HIMARS rockets and destroyed the building and nearby military equipment.
Two sets of figures
The 89 figure was a revision. Russian officials had initially confirmed 63 troops killed, and raised that number two days after the attack. Ukrainian officials claimed that the strike killed 400 Russian troops.
What the explanation meant
By pointing to phones with tracking systems, the ministry placed the cause of the losses on the conduct of the soldiers themselves. That was the ministry's own account of how the strike came to succeed, and it is the one on record for 3 January 2023.
The gap between 89 and the Ukrainian claim of 400 remained as the day closed. The ministry's revised count and its stated reason were the public Russian response to the attack.
