Conflicts & War

Russia increases death toll to 89 for Ukraine’s Makiivka strike

Moscow, Jan 4 (EFE).- The Russian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday raised the death toll to 89 – all of them soldiers – in Ukraine’s Jan. 1 bombing of Makiivka, in the annexed region of Donetsk.

Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov said that four HIMARS missiles struck a building where Russian soldiers were present, causing its destruction.

The other two missiles used in the attack were intercepted, he added.

.According to Russian authorities, the widespread use of mobile phones by soldiers – who were calling their families to wish them on New Year according to media reports – was the main cause of the incident.

Moscow pledged to take measures to prevent similar tragic incidents from happening in the future and said it would punish those responsible for it.

On Jan. 3, Sergey Mironov, leader of A Just Russia party, became the first high-ranking politician to demand an investigation into what happened in Makiivka, where the victims included men drafted as part of the partial mobilization announced in 2022.

Mironov insisted that what happened in Makiivka must not be repeated.

“The investigation, of course, will deal with what took place: betrayal or criminal negligence, although I assume that it was both,” Mironov wrote in his telegram post.

He said it was evident that “neither intelligence, nor counterintelligence, nor air defense” acted how they should have. EFE

mos/ss/ia

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